Resident Evil: End Game
by Windra
Summary: COMING BACK! Five years had passed since Raccoon City. Rowan Naton has fled across the US with Brad, Rachel, Sherry, and her aunt. She now resides in Manitou, Kansas, but danger is beginning to arise. The final battle against Umbrella has begun.
1. Prologue

Resident Evil: End Game  
Prologue  
By Windra  
  
June 20, 2003  
12:54 A.M.  
Outside of Manitou, Kansas  
  
The sky was dark that night, and the bright, orange-tinted moon, the Blood Moon, as people called it, conquered the sky, shining down brightly on a deserted dirt-covered road below. Somewhere in the dark, dense forest nearby, a lone owl called out before swooping down on a panicked field mouse that scurried hurridly across the dirt. Close to that forest was a lake, where the frogs sung out their evening song, which was joined by the crickets and cicadas that lingered in the area. The grass, dried and brown from the heat of a Midwest American summer, swayed to and fro in the somewhat cool breeze, grabbing at the dew that began to settle down on them.  
  
Not far away was the city of Manitou, where the buildings and houses and stores shimmered with light, and where some people wandered the streets while others slept comfortably in their beds. On a sidewalk deeper in the city, a group of six teenagers chatted with each other as they walked past the other groups of people.  
  
Back to the dirt road that shimmered dully in the moonlight, a large, brown, black, and green-colored truck sped along. The bed of the back of the truck was covered with a black cap, and had one broken window. Stacks of small barrels were piled up inside it, and each was labeled with the biohazard symbol. Up in the front, the driver's seat was occupied by a thin, young man with reedy brown hair and wearing a Dallas Cowboys cap. He wore a pair of blue jeans and a white coat that had an I.D. card pinned to it...an Umbrella I.D. card.  
  
The radio blasted Garth Brooks' 'The Thunder Rolls', and the driver was singing along to it...horribly. He was obviously tone deaf, but he kept on singing.  
  
His radio and voice was blaring out so loud, in fact, that, as he hit a bump in the dirt road, he didn't hear the top column of biohazard barrels began to rattle, rolling towards the area of the broken window. One caught in it, but, between the force of the other barrels pushing against it and the fact that the driver had run over another bump released it from where it was stuck, and it fell out while the other barrels rolled against the window, crashing together and forming a barricade in the process.  
  
As the truck continued to speed off down the road, towards some unknown Umbrella facility, the barrel hit the grassy area beside the road. It didn't crack, but instead went rolling down the hill. It passed the forest, and then the lake until it was on a direct path towards Manitou. The rocks and sticks in its path weakened its tin shell dramatically as it continued in its downhill journey.  
  
The barrel rolled quickly into an alleyway at the edge of the city, where it crashed into the brick wall of an apartment building...and hard. That caused the shell of the barrel to crack, and, slowly, a blue liquid began to spew out, spraying the ground and forming a small stream that moved over and pooled in a pothole in the center of the alley. Even when the pothole was filled, the liquid continued to to flow into it, eventually overflowing and wetting the cement ground, then saturating the cracks in the pavement, where it drenched the soil.  
  
A lone dog wandered into the alley, a Golden Retriever. Its fur was a dirty gold and gray, with bits of its body missing fur, others covered with dirt, and some other spots dotted with blood, as if it had been in a fight with another creature. Its deep black eyes swirled with thirst, and it shambled into the alleyway, his 'territory', and sniffed around for an area to do his business. In doing so, it caught the scent of the liquid in the pothole, and one of its ears twitched. It padded over to it, its paws becoming wet as it walked onto the drenched pavement. Slowly, it lowered its nose to the pothole so that its tip was about a centimeter away from it, then took a deep sniff. Curious and tempet, the dog took a testing lick, soaking his dried tongue and swallowing. The creature pulled back and sneezed, muzzle wrinkled in disgust, and trotted away. It would find another place to mark as its terriroty...as this substance, that liquid....it seemed strange.  
  
And as more of the liquid poured into the area, and as all of it finally left the barrel, a viscious gas arose from the liquid, heading upwards and being sucked into the open fan-covered windows of the apartments, the same apartments of the building the barrel had crashed into, by the force of the fan pulling in the outside area, and the vapor from the liquid flooded into the houses, filling the lungs of those who breathed it in and clinging to their insides...  
  
Twenty blocks away, six teenagers, the same group that was chatting and walking along before, turned into an arcade, completely unaware of what had happened. 


	2. Chapter 1

Resident Evil: End Game  
Chapter 1  
  
BAM!  
  
A low, guttural moan was heard as an undead creature slumped to the ground with a splattering thud, a single bullet hole between the eyes...and part of its head missing from the force of the shot. A single girl grinned softly, raising her red gun into the air with a victorious twinkle in her hazel eyes, and brushed away part of her long, brown hair that hung slightly in her face. A tall girl wearing a simple green shirt and denim jeans, as well as a pair of sneakers-  
  
-and the screen in front of her swerved to the right, showing another zombie lurching forward, a pudgy one with a chainsaw clutched tightly in its hands. Beside the girl was a boy, with short, brown hair and brown eyes, who wore blue jeans and a blue shirt, and almost as tall as the girl. He rose the blue gun in his hands and fired into the chainsaw-wielding zombie's lower gut, then at the arm holding the weapon, blowing a hole through its stomach and seperating its arm from its shoulder. The zombie moaned lightly as it dropped the chainsaw, then lurched forward again, getting ready to ram into the screen, before the boy fired a shot at its scalp, letting it slump to the ground without another sound.  
  
Behind them, four kids watched and cheered them on, staring at the screen that showed the gameplay of House of the Dead as they did so. The two exchanged glances, grinned, then began to fire at the monsters again, this time at a batch of two Freddy-Crueger look alikes that emerged from a pool inside the building. With a few bullets to the head, the monsters fell to the ground, twitching violently and disappearing into thin air while the screen moved forward, allowing them to save two people after killing off some more monsters.  
  
The screen moved upwards as the first-person characters climbed up a ladder, and two screams were heard. The screen shot to te left and into the sky, and a large bat-like creature came into view, its eyes glowing menacingly and its claws clasped loosely around the shoulders of two people...a female and a male scientist.  
  
"This is as far as you go!" the demon was hissing in a high-pitched voice...a voice that sounded like the one of someone who had just sucked the helium out of a balloon. "I'll finish YOU here!"  
  
And with that, the demon dropped the two humans, letting them fall to the ground, their screams piercing the air until there was a dull thud...and then silence as another screen emerged, showing the demon's point of weakness, as well as its name, the Hangman. Bats flew at the screen, biting at it while the boy and girl frantically began to shoot at them, and at the giant bat-like creature that flew in the air. After a few minutes of firing bullets at it, the creature took to the skies, flying over the building and disappearing, but the screen followed...and slid down the roof of the building as the creature swooped at them.  
  
The two children were now firing quickly, but their efforts were futile, for, after the third swoop from the beast, the creature's hand lashed out, and the screen fell to the ground...the screen flashed for a minute, showing the screen that said 'Continue?' and how many credits to put into the machine, as well as the time limit before the game was over. But the two children had no more coins left, so they simply turned to the rest of their friends, grinning softly.  
  
Four children stood behind them. One was tall, yet somewhat shorter than the one who had been playing House of the Dead. She had shoulder-length blonde hair, and wore her trademark red hairband. She had blue eyes, and wore a blue tee-shirt, as well as a navy blue skirt and a pair of sneakers with matching colors. A foster sister to the girl who had been playing the game...none other than the now seventeen year old Sherry Birkin.  
  
The other girl who stood beside her was much younger, a fourteen year old girl. SHe had long, sapphire hair with white highlights in it...and, oddly enough, that was her natural hair color. Her eyes were icy blue, and a single necklace hung around her neck, one of a silver snowflake. The girl wore a silver tee-shirt and denim jeans, and her skin was marked with numerous scars and bruises. Shiva Ramotha, that was her name...  
  
The third girl was older than both Sherry and Shiva, yet younger than the eighteen year old girl who had just finished the game...she was eighteen, but younger by a few months. She had long, black-brown hair that was tied back in a bun, and had bright brown eyes. Her skin had a dark tone to it, and she wore a red tee-shirt, as well as midnight black jeans. On her hands was a single bracelet, silver with little hearts designed on it, and a few rings sat on her fingers. Celica Ferner.  
  
And finally, there was a boy, with a small black affro growing on his head and black eyes. His skin was also dark, and he was tall and slightly older than Celica, but younger than the older brown-haired girl. He was wearing a red long-sleeved vest with a white tee-shirt underneath it, and wore red stretch pants. He also had various necklaces around his neck, and a wide grin was on his face. Eighteen year old Darek Garland.  
  
The girl who had just finished playing House of the Dead wandered up to the rest of the group and grinned, while the older boy who had played the game with her followed and stopped alongside her. They nodded, and the group began to walk out of the arcade, speaking with each other as they headed home.  
  
"That was damn good, Rowan!" Celica yelled out, flashing a grin at the older girl. "You've got pretty damn good aim, y'know? Right between the eyes!"  
  
Rowan grinned back, eyes flashing with some kind of recognition that none of them saw, none of them except Sherry, that was. "Just lucky, I guess," Rowan said, smirking softly. "Guess I'm just good at aiming, just lucky."  
  
[i]None of them know...none of them. They don't know about Raccoon...don't know about Umbrella, the T-Virus, G-Virus...they don't know about anything that happened to me...about the monsters, zombies...the victims of Umbrella's torment...[/i]  
  
She shook her head softly, and turned to face Greg, the boy who was playing House of the Dead with her. The nineteen year old boy looked over at her and grinned, and she nodded before turning back to the others. "It's late," she said softly, blinking. "I guess we'd better get home?"  
  
"Aww, c'mon!" Darek cried out desperately, a grin on his face. "It's Friday night...let's hang out at some more places!"  
  
"Sorry, Dracula," Sherry chimed in, grinning at the dark toned boy, who snickered at his nickname...after all, he was what they called a night dweller, always hanging out at night. "She's got a point. Auntie'll have a fit if we get home too late..."  
  
"If we aren't late already...," Rowan finished, rubbing the back of her head.  
  
Darek gave a sigh of surrender, and turned to Celica, who nodded. Shiva sighed and shook her head, while Greg simply wandered up to them. Rowan and Sherry nodded to them. "We'll see you tomorrow?" Sherry asked, blinking.  
  
"Sounds good to me," Celica smirked, flashing an alien peace sign before walking down the road. "See ya around!"  
  
Darek nodded and followed the girl, swinging around and flashing a grin at them. "Yeah, see ya tomorrow!"  
  
Greg looked over to Rowan and Sherry, and gave a thumbs up, nodding and smirking. He began to walk away, but with his head looking back over his shoulders. "I'll give you a shout and see if I can come."  
  
FInally, Shiva began to walk away, turning to look at them with a grim smile. Her eyes were filled with terror and nervousness, and Rowan and Sherry knew why. Since the girl's mother died, her father and her brother...they weren't exactly the best family...  
  
"Shiva...?" Rowan began, and the girl looked over to them. "Do you wanna stay with us? Your family is gonna be...uh..."  
  
"I know," she said slowly, then shook her head. "I'll be fine...somehow. I'll make it out of the house somehow tomorrow...if they don't put me six feet under, first..."  
  
"We'll come and pick you up," Sherry said softly, grinning and flashing a thumbs up. "Rowan's old enough to drive. We'll get you outta that Hell hole for you."  
  
Shiva gave an approving nod, and began to walk down the street. "Yeah...hopefully, I'll see you tomorrow..."  
  
They watched her go, exchanging nervous glances. Sherry's eyes were filled with sorrow for the girl, while Rowan's eyes were filled with boiling rage at the brother and the father of the child. How could someone treat one of their own kin like that?!  
  
The nodded to each other, turning away and walking down the road in the opposite direction of the way the others had gone, speaking softly with each other.  
  
**********  
  
They had walked into an alleyway, now...a shortcut to get home. The city had become their playground, now, and they knew every street and alleyway like the back of their hands. Sherry was snickering while Rowan was frowning, for the younger girl had been picking on her because of the way Greg was acting towards her.  
  
"I'm telling you, Rowan!" she was saying. "He's got the hots for you!"  
  
"He does NOT," Rowan scolded, eyes twitching. "He's just a friend!"  
  
"Well, he's a pretty damn close friend to you, then, because he was swooning over you the other day!"  
  
"I can't get involved," Rowan hissed suddenly, looking up at her. Sherry rose a brow, blinking with confusion.  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"Cuz Umbrella's still after us, remember?" the older girl said softly, tearing her eyes away and staring at her feet as they walked. "If something should happen and he gets involved with this shitty conspiracy...because I let something slip or he figures it out...I don't want anything to happen to him."  
  
Sherry shook her head, staring at her older 'sister'. "So you mean that you...?"  
  
"Yeah...I like him, I like him a lot...but I can't take the chance of losing somebody...I've already lost my parents, I don't want to lose any other loved ones."  
  
Sherry fell silent, eyes softened as they walked through the alley.   
  
[i]So that's how she feels? That's why she's never had a boyfriend in her life...Well, neither have I, but there have still been people hitting on me...I'll get a date when she does...that's my rule...[/i]  
  
Her eyes wandered up to the sky, and a grin appeared on her face. [i]Yet, those other two lovebirds...Brad and Rachel, heh, they've been swooning over each other for QUITE some time, now...but they're still involved with this Umbrella crap. I guess they just know how to keep tabs on things...Rowan's young, and even I know she's not organized...[/i]  
  
Sherry simply shook her head and followed her sister, sighing and staring at the ground, at nothingness, and delving into imagination-  
  
-until she saw movement out of the corner of her eye.   
  
She froze, blinked, looked into the shadows where the movement was, and turned to Rowan, giving a small squeak of fright. In response, the older girl turned around to look at her, and she also froze, for the source of the movement darted past her, and the details of whoever or whatever it was couldn't be seen, for it was too dark...  
  
They also heard the warning click of a gun, and the footsteps of the person, and the two took off, out of the alleyway, and down the street. Somebody was there with a gun, somebody who didn't seem afraid to use it...but who just wanted to warn them, to get them to leave the area...  
  
...and they did.  
  
**********  
  
By the time they had reached their apartment building, the two sisters were out of breath. Their hands were on their knees as they tried to capture their breath again, and, after about a minute of heavy breathing, they manage to stumble up to the apartment building. Rowan pulled the door open, and began to walk up the stairs, eyes drooping with tiredness. Sherry followed, yawning slightly as a wave of yearning for sleep took over. The two made it towards the top of the stairs, and grabbed at the handle of a door labeled with the numbers 301, and yanked it open, where they were greated with light and a concerned face looking at them.  
  
A woman was sitting at the table in the center of the small kitchen, her green eyes gleaming, her fiery red hair draped over her shoulders and dangling in front of her face. She was wearing a simple white robe, showing that she had just gotten out of bed, even though it was late, and she had a cup of coffee sitting in front of her. Sherry yawned once more, and walked past her, giving her a peck on the cheek and whispering a goodnight to her before lurching towards her bedroom, while Rowan simply yawned and sat beside her aunt, a weak and tired smile on her face. The clock on the wall read 1:30 in the morning.  
  
Well, Aunt Gartha's plan to get me out of the house and hang out with my friends instead of trying to hack into Umbrella's files worked...she's probably gonna cream me for being home so late...  
  
But the older woman did not such thing. Instead, she began to talk about things, asking what Rowan had did, where they went, if anything went wrong and such, and Rowan had filled her in on everything that she, Sherry, and her friends did, save for the encounter with the gun slinging stranger in the alleyway. Gartha was always worried, she didn't want to worry her more.  
  
After a good conversation about anything they could think of, Rowan had pecked her aunt on the cheek and walked off to the bedroom Sherry had gone in, for they shared the same room, but had different beds. She whispered a goodnight to her before walking into the room. She softly snickered to herself when she heard Sherry's low snores and grumbles, and, once in a while, she would see her younger sister jump, as if having a nightmare...but that was the least of her worries. All she did was collapse on her bed, close her eyes, and, within a second, she was off in dreamland.  
  
**********  
  
"You WHAT!?" an angry voice yelled out as a man stood up, his hands clenched into fists. The man had shirt, buzzcut blonde hair, and wore sunglasses, even if it was night. He never removed those spectacles, no matter what time it was, or how dark it was... He was wearing a black suit. Black tee-shirt, black jeans, black leather coat, and had a black belt around his waist, where his gun holsters and portable equipment was kept. His black boots pounded against the floor as he advanced towards the man across the room, the man with reedy brown hair and who wore a Dallas Cowoys cap, who had on blue jeans and a white lab coat. The man quivered, gulping as the blonde-haired man walked up to him and grabbed him by the front ofhis shirt, picking him up and holding him against the wall.  
  
"I-I-I....," he whimpered softly. "I think I d-dropped a barrel of the T-Vir-Virus...I-I think it f-fell out of t-the truck..."  
  
"How the HELL do you drop a barrel full of the T-Virus and not notice it?!" the man hissed again.  
  
"I...I had the r-radio on..."  
  
"Up full blast, hmm? You godamned redneck!" the man snapped, raising the other person up and slamming him into the wall again. "You lost a barrel of one of Umbrella's most profitable and powerful viruses known! Do you KNOW what will happen if anyone discovers the virus?!"  
  
When he got no response, the man lowered his glasses, revealing repitillian yellow eyes that seemed to glow with rage. The man with the cap on gasped in surprise and fear, and watched as the man raised a fist to his throat.  
  
"Umbrella will FALL if anyone finds out about the virus!" the man bellowed, pulling back his fist. "You're worthless!! You ma very well cost us this company!"  
  
"Please, Mr. Wesker, I didn't mean t-to-"  
  
His pleas were silenced as the man shot forth his fist, sending it straight through his neck. The fist emerged on the other side of the neck, and blood spewed out of the wound and pooled onto the floor below. Growling, he removed his fist and dropped the limp body to the ground, snarling and twisting away before lumbering down the halls. He would have to find the virus before the civilians did, before anyone found out...for the sake of this company, for the sake of Umbrella. 


	3. Chapter 2

Resident Evil: End Game  
Chapter 2  
  
"Rowan? Rowan, c'mon, wake up..."  
  
A grumble emitted from the sleeping girl, and she simply flipped over in her bed, turning away from the girl who was trying to wake her up. Sherry sighed in exasperation, then tugged at Rowan's pajamas again, earning another grumble from her, but she didn't wake up. Finally, she reached over and pulled at her 'sister's' blue blanket, pulling it off of the girl. Rowan cracked open one eye and stared at Sherry angrily, showing that she didn't wake up, but Sherry simply grinned. She was wearing casual wear...a pair of denim jeans and a black tee-shirt with the word Ozzy printed across it and the little cartoon version of Ozzy Osbourne hanging off of the O in the name.  
  
"C'mon, sleepyhead," she mused. "Wakey wakey!"  
  
"Bug off," Rowan murmered. "It's Saturday morning, Sherry..."  
  
"Jeff called. Auntie wants us to go check up on him, he said he wasn't feeling too hot."  
  
"Oh...," Rowan whispered, sitting up. "Well...I'm going back to bed...don't wake me up..."  
  
And with that, the older girl lay back down in her bed, sighing softly and closing her eyes. Sherry frowned, then smirked as she walked towards her, placing her hands on each of Rowan's sides and tickling. The girl squealed with surprise and rolled away, resulting in her falling off of the bed and onto the ground below.  
  
"Alright," Rowan grumbled, opening one eye and staring at the sky blue ceiling. "You got my attention...I'm up..."  
  
**********  
  
Jeff was a good friend of Aunt Gartha's, more like a brother, or maybe even closer. He was slightly older than her, but had a child-like sense of humor. Rowan liked him a lot, as he was like a father in many ways, and Sherry and he were like father and daughter, while it still took Rowan quite a while to warm up to him, but once she did, the friendship was eternal. Rowan and he shared many views on the world, and had the same personality. Gartha, in the meanwhile, was attracted to him, as was he to her. She wouldn't be surprised if he popped the question any day now...  
  
Unfortunately, he lived on the other side of the city of Manitou, and he lived in an apartment building on the edge of the city. A small apartment, but still very cozy. His pet, a black kitten named Dante, reminded her of Felix in many ways. While Felix, the gray and white tuxedo-cat, was now older and slightly chubby, and wasn't as frisky as he used to be in the past. Dante, in the meanwhile, acted like Felix did when he was younger. But time would take its toll...and the cat called Felix had grown much older...  
  
Rowan was driving along the road when those thoughts came to her mind. She was now wearing the same outfit as Sherry's, except there was one difference...her black shirt was a Marilyn Manson tee-shirt. She and Sherry were in Gartha's blue Mercedes Benz, and were following the speed limit along the traffic-loaded streets of the early morning. Gartha was sitting in the passenger seat, while Rowan was driving and Sherry sat in the back. Rowan, like Sherry had told Shiva, was old enough to drive...she was 18, five years older than she had been in Raccoon City. And, even though many yearspassed since the incident, Umbrella was still after them...but seem to have been stalled. It seemed they were trying to track Rowan, Brad, Rachel, Sherry, and Gartha in the USA and Jill, Chris, Barry, Claire, Leon, Rebecca, David, and everyone else who managed to join in on the fight in Europe. Not only were they after those two groups, as Rowan and Brad discovered once when they hacked into an Umbrella file, but they were after two others...some girl named Alice...and a man by the name of Billy?  
  
*Alice was that girl on the video we saw in Raccoon,* Rowan dimly thought. *So she survived...Umbrella's gonna have a hell of a fight...*  
  
In the future...in the next few days and perhaps a few weeks, Rowan would see that her thoughts would be confirmed.  
  
The car pulled up to a single brick building, towering about ten or so stories tall. Jeff would be at the fifth floor, so it wouldn't be a long trek. Silently, the three got out of the car and began to walk up to the door of the apartment building, pushing open the creaking, rusty metal door open and walking in, slamming the door shut. They nodded to the owner of the building, a chubby man with short, blonde hair who stood behind the counter to their left, and proceded to walk up the stairs ahead of them.  
  
At the fifth floor, they walked down the hallway, then to a single door marked with the number 165. Grinning softly, Gartha knocked, and heard nothing. She knocked again, and a low, raspy voice answered.  
  
"C-Come in," the voice hissed softly, and Rowan could hear labored breathing, as if Jeff was struggling to breath. Not a good sign.  
  
Gartha pushed the door open, and they all walked into the dimly lit room. A small apartment was exactly what it was. It only had four rooms...a bedroom to the right, the living room in front of them, the bathroom to the left, and the kitchen up ahead. The rug under their feet was an oceanic blue, and the walls were painted a light gray. A single table sat in front of them, and, in the bedroom to the right, a hacking noise was heard, a phlem-filled cough. The three exchanged glances and nodded to each other, then walked into the bedroom. They also noted that Dante was nowhere in sight...  
  
That room was also small, but still very cozy. The walls were painted white, and, on the far end of the right wall, sat a dresser with a single mirror above it. A television sat in front of the bed, but it was switched off. The bed itself was small, and double-matressed, with a thick, white blanket covering it, and the man under it. When they saw Jeff, however, Rowan felt a sense of déjà vu...for he looked like the living dead.  
  
His skin, normally a bright tan and white, was pale, with no coloration to it. His skin was dry and scabbing, and his black hair was greasy and stuck to his head. His eyes, wide and fearful, were dim, and had a thin white film over them...and his body looked like a sun-dried prune. There was almost no life in him, and, as Rowan had heard before, his breathing was very labored...  
  
"Jesus Christ, Jeff," Gartha hissed, walking up to him and leaning over his head, kissing his forehead lightly. "Jesus...what the hell happened to you?"  
  
"Had...my window...open l-last night...," he whispered weakly. "Turned t-t-t-...the fan on...Maybe...I caught a c-c-cold...?"  
  
"Bullshit," Rowan whispered, looking at him worriedly. "No way...a cold can't get this bad..."  
  
"I think we should take him to the hospital," Sherry whispered softly, walking beside him.  
  
"N-no...I'll be f-fine...," Jeff protested, shaking his head wearily, but immediantly regretting it, for he clutched his head and moaned...a low, pitiful wail that sent shivers up Rowan's spine.  
  
"No, Jeff," Gartha said firmly. "You're going to the hospital."  
  
"Gartha..."  
  
"C'mon," the woman said again, and helped to lift him up. Slowly and softly, she helped Jeff dress, then helped him walk out of the apartment, while Rowan and Sherry simply stared. They looked at each other knowingly, a feeling of dread creeping into them as they followed her outside and got into the car, starting the engine and driving down to the Western side of the city, where the Manitou General Hospital resided.  
  
They failed to noticetwo pairs of dead, pure white eyes of a canine and feline staring at them from a dark alleyway.  
  
**********  
  
Rachel Kinston was probably the happiest person alive.  
  
She was finally getting payback on Umbrella, getting revenge for all the horrible things they've done in the past. She was dating the one person she really loved, and she would be able to meet her boyfriend's partners from long ago, the people who had discovered what Umbrella was doing, and tried to warn the people of Raccoon City, but failed. Grinning softly, she brushed back a lock of brown hair and looked behind her with her green eyes. She was wearing a pair of denim jeans, and a gray tee-shirt. She smiled, sighed, and walked out to the kitchen to grab a drink, when two arms wrapped around her from behind, and a chin sat on her left shoulder. Rachel smiled as she heard the voice of her boyfriend.  
  
"Morning, Rach," Brad whispered softly, opening one eyes to look at her, and smiled.   
  
"Morning, Brad," Rachel replied, smiling and turning around to face him before kissing him on the lips. "Glad to see you awake."  
  
Brad hadn't changed much over the years. His hair was still slicked back in a buzzcut, and was still its same brown color. His brown eyes were still shining like they were in the years that had passed, and he was still as tall as he was back then. He was, in a sense, no longer Chickenheart...the worry and anxiety that had pained him for the months after the explosion of the Spencer Estate had seemingly dissipated the day Rachel gave him a kiss, one month after Raccon was destroyed. He was wearing blue jeans, and a gray tee-shirt with a picture of a red Chinese dragon on the back, and the front printed with the words, 'Guardians of Paradise'. A gift from Rowan a few months ago.  
  
"I'm glad to see you awake, too," he said softly, nodding, and kissing her back.  
  
"Hmmm...hey Brad, Chris called."  
  
"Mmmm? What's up?"  
  
"He and the gang's gonna come over tomorrow, things are getting too uptight in Europe... Umbrella almost found them yesterday..."  
  
Brad looked up at her nervously, then smiled. "They'll be okay, my sweet," he whispered, and Rachel laughed slightly. "I know them...they're more tought than they look."  
  
"I hope so," Rachel whispered softly, hugging him.   
  
"I call Rowan and Sherry in a few minutes. I'm sure Rowan'll be happy...she hasn't seen Jill or Carlos in years, and she wanted to meet the rest of my team..."  
  
"Yeah, she'd be happy," Rachel replied, looking up and nodding. She gave him another kiss before pulling away and heading to the kitchen, where Brad followed.  
  
**********  
  
The doctors had said there was nothing major wrong with Jeff. He had no cold, no flue, but a slight fever that was increasing. The doctor had insisted he stay the night, and Gartha complied, and so did Jeff. He didn't feel good at all, and the doctors said that the skin was probably drying because of lack of water...but Rowan didn't think so...neither did Sherry.  
  
Gartha would stay at the hospital, as she said. She was worried about Jeff...she wouldn't leave his side, not yet, not now. Rowan and Sherry, in the meanwhile, had kept a promise to their friends to meet them. They'd visit Brad and Rachel first...they always visited them daily, it was a habit, and they were their best friends, besides the other children they hung out with. Then, they'd pick up Shiva, get her away from that God-forsaken place she called home, and then they'd pick up everyone else.   
  
*Life passed so much, now...In five years time, I'm a rebel against Umbrella, and 18... When I first discovered what the company was doing, I was 13. Brad...the so-called Chickenheart, has grown to become Braveheart. Sherry has grown older, and more intelligent, while Rachel has devoted her life to bringing down Umbrella, just like I am...*  
  
Rowan stared up at the sky for a second as they drove along the road, and, when she saw the faint gleam of the now hiding moon, she smiled before looking down at the road.   
  
*There is always hope...Maybe luck is on our side...*  
  
The car drove down the road and out of sight.  
  
**********  
  
All it wanted was blood, that was all it desired, all it hungered for...all it needed to live. The creature snarled at its own shadow hungirly, soulless eyes staring at it blankly, sniffing the air, hoping that the shadow was something live, something crawling with flesh...but it wasn't.  
  
The Golden Retriever snarled slightly before padding off down the alleyway. Its fur, which had been covered in dirt and mud, as well as blood from the fights it had with other strays, was now caked in dry blood. Its wounds were open, no longer bleeding, but no longer healing. Now, its one leg, the front left paw, was limping because it was weak, decaying. The bone was showing, and the dog couldn't support its weight on that leg anymore...nor could it feel the pain.  
  
Blood. It could smell the scent, and it wanted it. SIlently, the dog peeped around the corner of the alley, just in time to watch three women walk out of the building it stood by, carrying another human, a man, which, oddly enough, smelled familiar to it. The man was like it...a monster like it, one of its kin. After a moment, the four of the humans leapt into a car and sped away.  
  
Behind the dog, a single black kitten wandered up, black fur coated in thick blood that blended in with the fur. It gave a ragged, raspy mew and stared at the car with wide, yellow, but dim eyes. It knew that human, as well, but also lived with him...but the memories of the times the cat lived with him was fading away quickly. Right now, it just wanted to feed...  
  
The two creatures exchanged glances, both filled with hunger, and watched as another human began to walk into the alley, unaware of the dangers that lurked in there. And, when the human got into the darkness, he yelled out in surprise and pain, and, after a loud crunching sound, there was silence... 


	4. Chapter 3

Resident Evil: End Game  
Chapter 3  
  
((A/N: Alright, since I don't have Microsoft Works or anything, I won't be able to use Italics, or Bold, or Underlines...Hopefully I'll get Works next week...For now...look below  
  
*text* = thoughts))  
  
----------------------  
  
15-year-old Cole Taylor was more frightened than he had been when his parents died.  
  
The boy had been in an alleyway, like always. He wasn't expecting anything to happen, but, then again, things rarely happened in this city. Well, unless you consider what had happened yesterday, when two girls had intruded his alley, when he had cocked his gun, which had alerted them and caused them to run off. Yesterday was different, however...he was simply scared that those two would be with the Foster company, and that they would take him to a Foster Home again...but this was something else... Something had happened today, something so gory and strange that it would leave him scarred for a lifetime...  
  
He had been walking down an alley, an abandonned one right next to an apartment building. He found a barrel at the end of the alley, where the pavement disappeared into the grassy hill that led to the forest. It was busted open, and there was dried blue liquid on the ground...He avoided it, getting an odd feeling that it wasn't supposed to be there, and took down the alley, towards the streets, and froze when he saw what looked like a cat and a dog...feasting on what was left of a human...  
  
Here was the odd part. The dog, what looked like a Golden Retriever, was soaked with blood and decaying flesh. Its left eye emerged from the socket, and its teeth were so long that it penetrated the bottom jaw. One ear was torn off...or rather, rotting off, and bits of decaying flesh fell to the ground. The cat beside it was in the same condition, except its black fur was much darker, and its eyes were glazed over...as were the dog's.  
  
The human in front of them looked like a jogger. He was wearing a white tee-shirt, and was wearing a blue pair of shorts, with a single white stripe going down the sides. His brown hair, which had been cut to be just above the ears, was now greasy and covered with drying blood. The eyes were blank and expressionless, covered with a thin white film. The skin was pale, and he wasn't breathing.  
  
The dog sniffed at the man, then grabbed onto his left shoulder, biting down and tearing away a piece of slightly fresh flesh...the human had been killed recently. The dog chewed on its for a second, then swallowed, and dove in again for another bite, whilst the cat nibbled hungrily on the man's chest, tearing out little pieces and dropping blood on the ground.  
  
Cole backed up, blinking, and slowly brushed a lock of his short brown hair out of his hazel eyes, staring at the sight with a look of disgust and shock on his face. What kind of animals would eat a human being? Perhaps they were starving...but, from the way they looked, the creatures looked like they were...were...  
  
*Dead...Holy shit...they look like they're dead...*  
  
He gulped, then took another step backward, his right hand groping around for the .45 Caliber Pistol that was hidden under his red tee-shirt and tucked in his denim jeans, then paused. If he shot at these creatures, people would hear and come...and he wasn't supposed to have a gun, anyway. It had once been his father's hunting gun, but, now that he was dead, Cole had taken it to protect himself against the murderers and robbers and other people that lingered around the area...this city wasn't safe, no matter what. No city was safe.  
  
He took another step back, and his sneaker hit a single empty can of diet Pepsi, which sent it flying across the alley and beside the dog, who now looked up, eyes gleaming dangerously and hungrily. It caught sight of Cole, and growled in a low voice before lumbering towards him, limmping because of its decaying front left paw. The cat saw him, as well, and hurried past the dog, towards the boy, hissing madly for blood.   
  
Cole reacted quickly. He jumped back, and grabbed at a pipe that was connected to a building. He grabbed at it, and yanked with all the strength he could muster. Within a second, it was off, and Cole rose it above his head, aiming for the cat, for it was much quicker than the canine. He struck at it, nailing it across the face and sending it flying back into a wall, then turned to the dog, who had jumped into the air and was now about a foot away from his face. He swung, striking it in the forehead with a sickening crack. The dog fell to the ground limply, not moving an inch, and COle guessed that he cracked the skull, which was rotting...and bits of matter from the brain oozed out of the gash in the head like Jello. The cat rose up once again, and, instead of using the pipe, Cole kicked at it, nailing it once more in the head and sending the head flying off...literally. It was rotting so much.  
  
The boy stood for a minute, letting his heart slow down to a normal pace, and regaining his breath and composure. He barely noticed that he was shaking when he jumped at another sound...a low moan from ahead of him, that came from the limp body of the jogger. Cole watched it twitch, watched the fingers clench and unclench, and saw the mouth open and close. After a minute, the man pushed himself up, then staggered onto his two feet, barely adjusting to the fact that he was walking before turning to Cole and letting out a low moan. For a second, the boy stood there, rooted to the ground in total and complete shock, before a single thought entered his head.  
  
*Zombie...A fucking zombie in Manitou...I never would've guessed that...*  
  
And before he waited around to see if the man would start to munch on him as a snack, he took off down the alley, into the streets, and kept running, while the man...the zombie...lurched out after him, and was distracted by another human walking past, then looking at him with concern... While the human asked if he was alright, the man lurched forward and leaned into her, then dug his teeth into her neck.  
  
Screams pierced the air.  
  
**********  
  
But I'm not a slave  
To a God  
That doesn't exist  
  
But I'm not a slave  
To a world  
That doesn't give a shit  
  
Rowan grinned while she listened to the song sung by her all time favorite artist. Sherry listened to it and stared out the window, watching the buildings rush past, then turning to face the girl, an odd smile upon her face. "Honestly, I dunno why you listen to this," she said in a mocking tone. "Ozzy's got better songs."  
  
"Hell no!" Rowan said in utter shock, laughing softly. "Nuh-uh, Manson's better! Listen to the lyrics!"  
  
"I do," Sherry said with a grin. "They make sense, but Ozzy's got better songs!"  
  
"Nuh-uh!"  
  
"Uh-huh!"  
  
"Nuh-uh!"  
  
"Uh-huh!"  
  
"Ah, whatever."  
  
"Yeah, what you said."  
  
"Oddball."  
  
"Wierdo."  
  
"Idiot."  
  
"Moron."  
  
Rowan grinned at that, then turned to Sherry and nodded, eyes twinkling with excitement. "Indeed, I know you are, but what am I?"  
  
"That's so outdated," Sherry said with another mocking tone.   
  
"Ah, let's stop now, we're here."  
  
The car pulled up to yet another apartment building, except this one was made out of wood. It was large, about five stories tall. Brad and Rachel shared an apartment at the second floor, and Rowan and Sherry were used to it. They loved this place, as well. The apartment was small and cozy, as well as roomy. Quickly, they made their way out of the car and slammed the doors shut before running into the building, up the stairs, and to a door labeled with the number 16.  
  
Rowan knocked, and called out with a tone of humor in her voice. "Y'ello? C'mon out, maties! We got ya surrounded!"  
  
"You'll never take me alive!" came the response of a man, no doubt Brad. They could hear him snicker slightly, and heard Rachel shuffling around, giggling.  
  
"Aye! Then we'll blow yer house down!" Sherry called out. "Cap'n Rowan, get da bulldozer!"  
  
A snicker, and the door open. Brad's face peeked through the opening, and he grinned widely. "A'ight, I surrender! We'll come peacefully!"  
  
"Good choice, matey!" Rowan said. "Might we come in an inspect ye premises?"  
  
"Certainly!"  
  
"Aye. Leutenant Sherry, c'mon!"  
  
Sherry laughed and walked in, followed closely by Rowan. Brad closed the door behind them, and turned to face them. Rowan ran over and hugged him, then pulled away and grinned like an idiot, running over to hug Rachel, while Sherry did the same. After a moment, Sherry looked around, and Rowan rubbed her head.  
  
The apartment was indeed small, but, like I said before, it was very roomy and neat. The kitchen was large enough to have a table in the center, and the floor was clean. The rub in the living room and bedroom was sea blue, and the walls were painted white. In the living room, the area in which Rowan and Sherry had just stepped in, a coach was placed against the far left wall. A small television sat in front of it. In the bedroom was a single bed, which sat beside a dresser. The bathroom was across the bedroom...  
  
Rowan looked up at them both, then smirked softly. "How ya doing?" she asked, smiling.  
  
Brad and Rachel exchanged glances, and smiles, and turned back to her and Sherry, grinning from ear to ear. "We've got good news," Rachel was saying. "Remember all the S.T.A.R.S. members? Brad's team?"  
  
"Yeah?" Sherry asked anxiously.  
  
"They're heading into town," Brad said. "Things are getting uptight in Europe..."  
  
"You're...shitting me, right?" Rowan asked tentavely.   
  
"I shit you not," he replied. "They're coming for a visit."  
  
"HAH!" Rowan cried out, then grabbed onto Sherry by the wrists and started swinging around gleefully,a wide grin on her face. "Ohmygod!! Sherry, we're gonna see Jill and Carlos and everyone else!"  
  
Sherry laughed at her antics, and looked over at the two adults with a grin. "Heh, I'll make tea for 'em!"  
  
Rowan choked out and shook her, snickering madly. "Uh-uh! Remember what happened last time?"  
  
Sherry snickered a bit, then nodded. "I know...but things change!"  
  
"Remember what happened to the teapot?"  
  
"I killed it."  
  
"You did more than that...you melted a hole in the bottom."  
  
Brad laughed at that, as did Rachel. The two were now leaning against a wall, arms draped over each other's shoulders, watching the two kids.  
  
"I left the burner on and forgot...heh."  
  
"You sure did. I walked out of my room and couldn't see a thing! Too much smoke!"  
  
"And you thought I cooked the cat!"  
  
"Well, Felix was nowhere in sight...and I was hearing snap crackle pop, so I figured that you went and commited arson or something."  
  
"Heh, you're the pyromaniac, not I!"  
  
"Wanna switch places?"  
  
"Nope."  
  
Rowan and Sherry snickered and turned to the two adults, who were just about in stitches. This was normally how the two acted, always picking playfully on each other...and it was quite humorous. Soon after their little 'argument' was over, the two sat downon the floor and looked up at them, and the two sat down, as well, and they all began to start their own conversation.  
  
**********  
  
By the time the conversation was over, Sherry and Rowan had to leave to go pick up Shiva and the others. They left with the promise to be careful and come back later on, and Brad and Rachel had nodded, saying that they would be waiting. The two had gotten in their car, and started the engine, driving down the road and fighting over the CD player in their car, and fighting over which CD they should play. Brad and Rachel smiled to themselves and headed into the living room, where they sat on the coach and leaned against each other, sighing contently.  
  
It was only then that the television screen flickered from Saturday Night Live to a news bulletin, and the two looked up in alert. This didn't happen often, and, when it did, it was often something serious, like the time the supercell lingered over town, and when the rapist was on the loose...  
  
But when the man on the television spoke, it wasn't about a storm or about a rapist...but it was about...something else... 


	5. Chapter 4

Resident Evil: End Game  
Chapter 4  
  
Shiva was trying so hard to stay away from her 'family'...  
  
She was running down the hall, her feet digging into the plush blue carpet...the carpet that had been stained with blood so many times before...and she didn't want to stop. She kept running...past the bathroom, past her brother's room, past her father's, and towards her own wooden door... Behind her, she could hear her father's, Frank's, footsteps gaining on her's, and, behind him, she heard her brother, Carl, shout out in anguish...for Shiva had been able to nail him in the eye with her fist before she got away from him.  
  
When she had come home that night, the two family members were fast asleep, and Shiva decided that she should get as much sleep as she could, for she had a feeling that there would be hell to pay tomorrow...and she was right. When she awoke, she was peering into a pair of blazing black eyes and a angry face with greasy black hair plastered to it. The face of her father had glowered early that morning, and, before she was able to get out of bed, he grabbed her and picked her up, throwing her roughly to the ground. The morning skirmish began, and, about a half hour later, her red-headed brother joined in, his bright yellow eyes blazing as he smacked her each time.   
  
She now had two large bruises on her face...one surrounding her eye, while the other was on her cheek. She had a suspicion that her bottom jaw was broken, for it hurt like hell...and two of her teeth were chipped...but she was still able to move it. Maybe she would go to a doctor afterwards...maybe, if she got the chance to. There was a deep cut on her elbow, and blood soaked her torn and tattered nightgown, making the white clothing eerie and making it seem that she had just been chased by the psychopathic killer known as Micheal Myers.  
  
Her thoughts drifted to the current situation...actually, her thoughts never left the matter at hand. She stared at the door in front of her, the one that had been dented and scratched so many times that it seemed impossible for the thing to hold up against any pressure, and she dove for it. Behind her, the father leapt, and she could feel the wind as his hands grazed her feet before she landed in her room and slammed the door shut on his arm with her left foot.  
  
The man on the other side of the door erupted into a furious array of shouting and screaming as he pulled his arm out of the crack of the door, yowling in pain, while she heard her brother search through the droors in the kitchen for a screwdriver to take the door off of the hinges. She wouldn't last long, she knew that, and Shiva wondered where Rowan, Sherry, and the others were...  
  
Shiva looked around her room for a moment, taking in everything with one glance. There was a single wooden dresser on the left side of the room, and the closet to her right was ransacked and broken from her family's last episode. She would have to fix it later... The wallpaper was a creamy yellow, with little bits of red splotching the walls, as well as the rug...blood, her own. While she was able to get most off of the walls, the rest stained the carpet, leaving them as permanent imprints. Right above her small, messy bed, above the heap of blanket the Shiva had never been given the chance to fold, was a mirror, the same mirror she had used to escape her family numerous times. She was actually surprised the two hadn't covered it or blocked it...maybe this was their idea of a game, let her escape and beat her even worse when she got back.  
  
Behind the door, her father continued to pound at the door, while she heard her brother begin to work on unscrewing the hinges. They would get in soon...and now all she could do was hope that, by some stroke of luck, their plan to beat her into oblivion failed.  
  
BEEP BEEP!  
  
"The hell?" Shiva managed to whisper, and hurried to the window. She stared out, paused, then grinned like an idiot.  
  
Outside, parked along the side of Shiva's house, was a blue Mercedes Benz, littered with specks of dirt and mud, showing that it had been used repeatedly. Inside, she could see the faces of her two friends, Rowan and Sherry, and they were motioning her to hurry up and get out of the house.  
  
A squeal of joy erupted from her mouth, and Shiva began to shove the window open, taking a deep breath as fresh air blew across her face. A grin appeared on her face, and she began to climb through the window. She was halfway through when the door behind her shot open, and two figures hurried out.  
  
*No...nonoNO! SHIIIT!!*  
  
A look of shock crossed her face as she felt two powerful hands grab onto her ankles, pulling her back into the room, while Shiva continued to grip onto the edge of the window. She gave a blood-curling scream, loud enough for the people nextdoor to peer out of their windows in confusion...and then shock when they saw what was happening to the young girl. In the car, Rowan scowled angrily, and she and Sherry quickly pushed their doors open. They barely let the ground touch their feet when they took off running towards the window, just when Shiva was about to slip.  
  
Rowan and Sherry quickly reached out and grabbed onto Shiva's loosened arms, preventing her from being pulled back into the room, but not preventing her father's pull. Although he recoiled slightly from the pull of the two girls, he looked at his son, and the boy nodded before gripping his sister's right leg, while her father went to her left leg and pulled.  
  
"Let go of her, you bastard!" Rowan was screaming as she yanked on Shiva's arm harder.  
  
"No, you bitch!" the father screamed out in reply. "This is *my* daughter! She lives in *my* house! You've got no right-"  
  
"We have every right, you piece of shit!" Sherry shouted. "Look at what you did to her! Let her *GO*!"  
  
"Up your's, jackasses!" the son hissed, pulling harder at Shiva's leg.   
  
For a fleeting moment, Shiva thought she was going to be ripped in half, and closed her eyes as she felt Rowan let go off her hand, making her feel like she was being pulled back into her room...  
  
CRACK!  
  
Thud!  
  
"You *BITCH*!"  
  
The pull on Shiva's left leg was gone, and suddenly, she went flying forward. She heard another thud as she hit the ground, her body painfully hitting a slab of dirt and grass, but the pain was short-lived, for she felt two pairs of supprting arms grasb her hands and pull her up, then hurry her to the car. When she opened her eyes, she was on the ground outside her window, and she looked back for a moment to Carl starting to rush for the outside door, and Frank beginning to stand with a bloodied mouth...Rowan had obviously punched him. He rubbed the wound, then snarled, curling his lips back and bearing his yellow teeth before following his son.  
  
"Shit...," Shiva whispered weakly, her eyes blazing slightly before looking over to Rowan, then to Sherry. "Row...Sherry...hurry, they're coming..."  
  
"C'mon, Shiva," Sherry whispered hastily, pulling her quicker towards the car and pulling open the back door, letting the younger girl climb in before slamming it behind her. By the time the door was closed, the father and son were halfway towards the car, and Rowan was already in the driver's seat, waiting for Sherry to get in. The blonde-haired girl nodded and rushed to the other side of the car, pulling it open and jumping in, sitting haphazardly as she slammed it. Rowan nodded to her, then grinned madly, turning to her window and smirking at the approaching members of Shiva's 'family' before she turned the key in the ignition. The engine thrummed, and the car shook slightly as it started up. While Frank's fingers grasped for the door handle, the car sped off quickly, leaving the two behind, staring after them, then shouting and chasing them...but neither could get to them, for, by the time they had begun to run after it, the car was well out of view.  
  
**********  
  
Jill peered out of the window in the airplane with wide, brown eyes. They gleamed with anxiety, and a smile tugged at the corners of her lips. This was the day they would meet Brad and Rowan for the first time in five years...five long years. She dimly wondered how they looked now, if they had changed that much, and if they were allright... they had been when Chris called. Still, things could change in a matter of hours...she learned that the hard way five years ago. She sighed and brushed a clump of brown hair behind her shoulder, staring up at the roof of the plane. She still had the same haircut as the one she had in Raccoon City...but she was wearing different clothes. She was wearing a green tube-top, and a pair of denim jeans. She wore a simple pair of black boots, ones that went to her ankles.  
  
Beside her, Chris Redfield was fast asleep. She looked over to him and smiled softly, brushing his buzzcut brown hair with her hands and then brushing his cheek. He was wearing a green tee-shirt with a black vest over it, and wore black jeans. He stirred for a moment, then opened his two black eyes and stared at Jill for a moment, grinning sheepishly. He leaned forward and pecked her cheek lightly before leaning on her shoulder, closing his eyes again. After five years, the two had grown close...very close. They became boyfriend and girlfriend, no matter how bad the situations with Umbrella were.  
  
Across from the side of the plan they sat in was Barry Burton, who was staring sadly out of the window. He still looked the same...same red beard, same red hair, same blue eyes. He was dressed in one of his favored wardrobes...a white tee-shirt covered with a blood red vest...except it didn't have the S.T.A.R.S. emblem on it...that would cause suspicion. Everybody knew that Barry missed his family...and they also knew that they could very well be in danger. Perhaps he would see them again, if things went as planned.  
  
Beside him was a young woman with short blonde hair that went to her shoulders and curled. Her eyes, a bright, crystalline blue, glanced around the plane anxiously, and she was dressed in a black attire...black shirt, black jeans. The group had met this girl on one of their trips into an Umbrella facility, and soon learned that she was one of the survivors of Raccoon City, as well as a former Umbrella employee. They also learned that she had rebelled against Umbrella and planned to unleash the secret of the T-Virus to the world, but the plans failed drastically...she had lost her friends in a facility, as well as a man named Matt...who had been transformed into the S.T.A.R.S. hunting monster that was unleashed in Raccoon City. The girl's name was Alice Maxwells...  
  
Behind her was a pair of humans, who were entagled in eachother's arms. Leon Kennedy and Claire Redfield. The woman had long, brown hair that was tied back in a ponytail, and wore a pair of black shorts, as well as a fiery red tee-shirt. Her arms were wrapped around Leon's mid-section, and her eyes were closed, her head buried in his chest. The boy had short brown hair that went just above his ears, and wore a pair of denim jeans, as well as a white tee-shirt. He had his arms wrapped around her, as well, and his head was leaning against the plush gray chair of the airplane. A snore erupted from his mouth, and Jill heard Claire giggle a little before falling back to sleep.  
  
Beside them sat Carlos Oliveira, a survivor of Raccoon and an ex-U.B.C.S. member. He had brown hair similar to Leon's, and had brown eyes, as well. He wore a pair of camo pants, as well as a black tee-shirt. A grin was set upon his childish face, which hadn't changed for five years, and he looked over to Alice adoringly, and watched as she glanced back at him and turned crimson before looking away. Jill giggled silently to herself, knowing that Carlos had a major crush on the newcomer...and, although Alice always turned away from him, she knew she did, as well. There was also joy on his face, and she knew that he was anxious to see Brad and Rowan, as well.  
  
Beside her was Rebecca Chambers, the ex-S.T.A.R.S. member, and, by far, the youngest in the group. She was well experienced in the medical department, and knew plenty of Umbrella, as well as some things that she kept secret, some things she never told anyone about...like what happened just before the S.T.A.R.S. Alpha Team went to investigate what happened with her team, the Bravos... She never told anyone about Billy Coen. The girl looked up, absently stroking her short brown hair, and closed her eyes, her mind drifting.  
  
In just another hour, they would land in Kansas...and meet Brad, Rowan, and Rachel...or so they thought. 


	6. Chapter 5

Resident Evil: End Game  
Chapter 5  
  
In the eerie silence of the afternoon, a single airplane began to descend to the ground in Manitou, Kansas. The landing gear began to emerge from the bottom of the plane as it neared the ground, and, within a few second, it began to touch the hard pavement of the landing strip. It bounced for a moment, hit the ground again, and slowly, the plane lowered until all of it was on the ground. Its speed began to lower as it cruised along the cement, and it finally came to a stop in about a minute. One of the personel on the ground began to quickly move a 'staircase' on wheels towards the door of the plane, and another one came to see if it was in the correct position. Nodding in approval, his hand moved to the radio clipped onto his belt, and he spoke into it, giving the staff inside the plane the signal to open the door of the plane, who did so quietly, grinning to the large number of passengers inside.  
  
"Thank you for flying on American Airlines...," she said softly brushing back a lock of blonde hair before bowing curtly towards the group. "Please come again, and have a nice day."  
  
"That's what we intend to do," Jill Valentine whispered as she hastily walked past the attendant and onto the staircase, grinning softly. "We're gonna have a very good time."  
  
The attendant nodded sheepishly before turning towards the others, while Jill descended the stairs with Chris Redfield behind her, who was half-asleep at the moment. Jill was lucky that he didn't suddenly trip and topple over...that would have been embarrassing. Behind him was Barry, and then Claire, who had her left arm hooked around Leon's right arm. Rebecca came out next, rubbing the back of her head and grinning in anxiety, whilst Carlos and Alice made their way out. Jill waited patiently at the bottom of the stairs for the others, and, when she was certain they were all on the stairs, she began to move away towards the main building in the airport. Brad said he and Rachel would meet them there, and she didn't want to be late... She grabbed Chris' right arm and proceeded to drag him through the area, not stopping until they were inside the building, where they waited for the others. They didn't have to wait long, for the rest of the group walked in with great haste...obviously, they were anxious to see their old friends, as well as the new member of their...anti-Umbrella gang, Rachel.  
  
Jill looked around the building curiously, watching as other people rushed past to get to their planes, but were denied...for, on the screen that showed the schedules of departures...all the planes were cancelled for the moment...delayed. *That's odd...what's going on? Maybe there's a storm or something?*  
  
She, as well as the others, failed to notice the trucks out back, where the planes landed, that were labeled with the red and white Umbrella logo.  
  
"So, where are they?" Chris was asking in a light-hearted voice, a grin set upon his face. "I can't wait to see ol' Chickenheart!"  
  
"Neither can I, Chris," Barry whispered with a grin, looking around curiously before patting the boy's shoulder in a brotherly manner. "I can't wait to see my kids...my wife..."  
  
"You'll see them again," Jill replied firmly, staring up at him and sighing. Barry looked down for a moment, then sighed.   
  
"I know...," he replied softly. "I hope... I mean, what if...*they* took them? What if-"  
  
"No more what-ifs," Rebecca cut in, walking past the three with Alice close behind, as well as Carlos, who was now looking over to the blonde-haired newcomer with a wide and charming grin, causing a blush to appear on her face. The youngest S.T.A.R.S. member looked at them for a moment, then smiled before turning back to Barry. "We'll find out soon enough, hmm?"  
  
"Yeah...," the older man replied gruffly, stuffing his hands into his pockets and nodding. "You're right, 'Becca..."  
  
The girl patted his back lightly, sighing. "Don't worry, Barry...you'll see them soon enough."  
  
Alice looked over to them for a minute, then flicked a lock of her hair back over her shoulder, blinking at Jill and Chris before looking down the crowded halls of the airport. "Where are your friends?" she asked solemnly, her eyes locking on two people who were walking towards them.   
  
Jill followed her gaze, then grinned suddenly, lunging forward and laughing out. Chris blinked and looked over to her, watching as two people came up to the group, one of them, the man, grinning sheepishly. The brunette who was with him smiled shyly before hurrying to his side, while the man hugged Jill tightly before cocking his head at the others.  
  
"Brad goddamned Vickers," Barry whispered, grinning suddenly and hurrying forward to grab the man's hand and shake it. "It's great to see you again!"  
  
Brad grinned at him and took the hand, shaking it and laughing out. "Barry!" he cried out. "It's damn good to see you again!"  
  
Rebecca was next, shaking his hand, then hugging him lightly, laughing before running over to Jill's side. Claire acted much the same way, for they had been aquainted before when Chris brought her along to the S.T.A.R.S. office before the mansion incident. Leon and he shook hands, introducing themselves, as did Alice, while Carlos sook his hand and patted him on the back in greetings. FInally, Brad and Chris stood face to face with each other, blinking. They hadn't been on the best of terms ever since the mansion...  
  
"Chickenheart," Chris began, speaking slowly, as well as a spark of recognition in Brad's eyes when he heard the nickname he had been called so many years ago.  
  
"Chris," Brad replied in the same tone his 'rival' had used, blinking.   
  
Silence, then Chris held out one hand, speaking in a light-hearted tone of voice. "It's good to see you again, pilot."  
  
Brad paused for a moment, then smiled and took the hand. "It's good to see you, too, marksman."  
  
They shook their hands and grinned at each other, while Brad turned around to face the girl who was hiding behind him. She nodded towards her, then wrapped an arm around her shoulder, turning to face everyone while Rachel grinned softly.   
  
"Guys, this is the ex-Umbrella scientist I was telling you about," he announced proudly, a wide grin upon his face. "Her name's Rachel Kinston."  
  
"Hey," she said meekly, blushing and shaking the hands of the ex-S.T.A.R.S., who now began to rush forward and introduce themselves. Chris, in the meanwhile, smirked and turned to the pilot, snickering.  
  
"So, you got yourself a girlfriend, Brad?" he asked, grinning madly, his arm now wrapped around Jill's waist, like he always did when they stood beside each other.  
  
Brad's face turned crimson almost immediantly, and he turned to face him, smiling and nodding. He nodded his head to where Chris had his arms around the other girl's waist, then chuckled. "Looks like you two are still...uh...hitting it off, hmm?"  
  
Chris grinned sheepishly, blushing, as did Jill, before nodding. Brad grinned at them, then frowned, looking around the area again before turning to face Jill, uncertaintity and confusion upon his face. "Where's David and John?"  
  
Jill shifted her gaze to the ground, nervously shuffling her feet and turning to Chris, who gave a sigh of surrender and turned to the ex-pilot, unsure of how to explain. "They...," he began, "...David was...killed..." A pause. "So...was John...by Umbrella's monsters in a facility in Europe..."  
  
Brad froze, then looked down, a sullen expression on his face. Rachel closed her eyes for a moment, then shook her head. However, Chris saw a deeper expression of sadness behind Brad's eyes, and he seriously doubted it was just about this. He blinked, then cocked his head, while the others finally saw what he saw. "Brad?" he asked softly, shaking his head. "Something wrong?"  
  
Brad sighed, and Rachel looked over to him, reading the expression on his face and turning slowly to face the group before her. She paused for a moment, nodded her head, unsure of how to begin. Did she really want to reveal the truth to this group? Things had been going fine...but with the bad news... Rachel took a deep breath before looking up at them, using her courage to tell them what was going on.  
  
"Cannibal attacks," she murmured slowly, staring at the ground for a moment while she gained the utmost attention of the ex-S.T.A.R.S. members. "Cannibal attacks...are starting up here...Just this morning..."  
  
"It's déjä vu," Brad whispered hastily, looking up to come eye to eye with the group in front of them, who now had looks of shocked plastered over their faces. "God, it was so sudden. It started in northern Manitou...a dog and a cat...were found dead in an alleyway...and then some guy got bitten by them...I guess, before they were found? They were undead before, but somebody killed them and took off...but the zombie...started attacking the other people who got near...They're spreading all over Manitou... Now Umbrella's placed...the city under martial law..."  
  
"Like Raccoon," Jill breathed, her face growing pale and her eyes growing wide. She rubbed her forehead, as if she had a headache, but it was only from the memories of the undead city they had been in five years ago that came flooding back. When she looked up again, the world began to spin ever so slightly, and she froze for a few seconds before staring at Brad and Rachel, gulping. "Where's Rowan, Sherry, and Gartha?"  
  
Claire tensened up at the name of Sherry Birkin, for she missed her dearly... She had escaped Raccoon City with Leon and her, and they haven't seen each other in so long...  
  
"Sherry and Rowan went to pick up their friends...they were supposed to meet up again today." He paused, then stared up at them for a moment, sighing deeply. "This isn't good..."  
  
"Understatement of the year, bud," Carlos murmered, patting Brad lightly on the back before heading towards the center of the crowded room they stood in, before turning around and facing them again. "Let's go find them...get past Umbrella's troops somehow. Where's Gartha?"  
  
"Still in Manitou...," Rachel whispered, looking up. "Oh *shit*, she's gonna be in trouble, we've gotta get her!"  
  
Jill nodded, then turned to walk up to Carlos, motioning for the others to follow them. She was about to open her mouth to speak when about ten loud screams erupted from the southern entrance of the airport. They could make out the words that were being shouted just dimly before others began to scream and run...  
  
"Oh my GOD!! They're hurt!"  
  
"They're dead! They're zombies!!"  
  
"AUGH!! SOMEBODY, HELP ME!! PLEASE!!"  
  
Chris, Carlos, Jill, Rebecca, Barry, Alice, Leon, Claire, Brad, and Rachel exchanged nervous glances, acknowledging each other with a nod before turning and running for the northern entrance, where they would get out of the airport and head for the Umbrella trucks. This was it, there was no turning back...al hell had broken out in Manitou, Kansas...  
  
Unfortunately for them, they didn't see the large group of undead beging to exit the city, stumbling into the hills and into the forests, crying out for blood and flesh and attacking random creatures in their path, leaving dead and undead carcasses of animals in their wake. Slowly, the zombies began to shamble towards the next city, where even more fresh flesh wafted in their nostrils...for they could still smell the blood of the humans and creatures that still lived. They moaned louder, still scrambling past each other in a great haste to get to the next town, where the food awaited...to the city of Topeka, and then...Birchenville...where Rowan, Sherry, and Shiva continued down to pick up the rest of their friends.  
*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Sorry for any typos...I'm in a hurry, and I'm in a really bad mood. The next chapter will be better, I swear!! 


	7. Chapter 6

Resident Evil: End Game  
Chapter 6  
  
The world around seemed to crumble, to burn, to die... There was almost nothing left in the matter of hours after the first cannibalistic attack, and people were running everywhere, screaming madly and trying to escape the clutches of the monsters roaming the area. A few were able to get away from the blood-hungry beasts, while others had not been so lucky, and either were sprawled upon the ground, disembodied, or walked with the army of undead that marched through the city, wailing out for more victims, somewhat disdained to see that they were running away. Those humans would be caught sooner or later, for, at the edges of the town were barricades the police had set up... They would either be devoured, or shot by the Umbrella soldiers that secured the area.  
  
*But the northern barricade is out. It's been destroyed, the soldiers dead...And I know exactly what got through them...*  
  
Such thoughts passed through Albert Wesker's mind as he sifted through the rubble left in the wake of the zombies. He sneered, looking around, worry and excitement shining in his eyes, which would've been seen by the few survivors that still remained in the area, had he not been wearing his sunglasses, like he always did. He didn't want to give away the secret that he was, in a sense, a superman, or the secret that he wasn't even human anymore... The fact that the town called Manitou was falling apart by another attack of cannibals, of zombies, of demonic dogs and other creatures, made him unusually happy... It made him feel like Raccoon City had been rebuilt and renamed. The screams in the air added to the maniacal joy he held as he watched people and animals alike become food for the hungry monsters nearby, as he watched unsuspecting people get jumped and killed by one of Umbrella's bioweapons. In a sense, he felt like he was home...this was where he belonged, where he felt he was one with the atmosphere... although the zombified critters in the area didn't see him as one of their own kind. He had to, sadly, put down a few that had tried to take a nice clean bite out of him, although, so far, he didn't have a scratch on him.  
  
Another scream erupted to his right, and he swung around, watching as a young man, no older than fifteen, narrowly dodged a lethal snap from a pair of rotting dogs, and took off down the road, glancing over to Wesker quickly, but never stopping or calling for help. A smart move on the kid's part...Wesker wouldn't help him anyway. Just shoot his legs out and let the dogs feast... But even then, Wesker didn't want to waste his time. This city was infected, and the nearest ones, Topeka and Birchenville, would probably be next, since the northern Umbrella barricade was destroyed, allowing the monsters a passage through the forest to Topeka. The situation was out of Wesker's hands, and, for all he knew, Umbrella would nuke the cities, like they had done to Raccoon and the other places that had become infected in the past. That was Umbrella's problem, he had another mission: to find the remaining S.T.A.R.S. members he had on his team back in the day. He had kept their location secret, never letting Umbrella know of it...he wanted to handle this on his own, to soak his hands in their blood...  
  
And then he would take care of Rowan and Sherry... He wanted revenge for the 'nut-cracker' Rowan had been able to nail him with when they last met five years ago, and he wanted to get rid of Sherry, just because of the fact that she had associated with the former S.T.A.R.S. members... But he would take care of them later.  
  
Smirking slightly, he began to head towards the left, towards a dark alley that would lead to a fire escape, which he would climb to get atop the roofs of the buildings. He would be able to get somewhat of a bird's eye view of part of the city from there, and it would be an easy route for him to travel on, without interference from any more of Umbrella's B.O.W.s, unless there were a few birds with a strain of the T-Virus in their bloodstream. He turned on his heels, and was halfway towards the alley before a scream cut through his thoughts. Normally, it would have averted his attention a little, but, since his hearing had been magnified when he changed into his 'super-human' strength, it was earsplitting, and felt horribly like somebody drilling an ice pick through his skull, or like a bad headache. Growling and clutching his head, he swung towards the source of the scream in time to watch a woman running towards him blindly, her fiery red flowing behind her like a blaze, bright green eyes riddled with anxiety and fright. Behind her...well, that was another story... It seemed a frog nearby had been infected.  
  
The creature was huge, about five feet tall, and its skin was a deep forest green, covered in what looked like slime. Its legs, arched and built to lunge at great distances and hardened with firm muscles, were tipped with flat-footed and webbed feet, which each had three long, incredibly sharp claws. Its arms were almost as muscular, and were tipped with webbed hands, which, like the feet, acquired three long claws. Its face was curved and its jaw was rounded, like a frog's, but, unlike a frog's mouth, it had small, razor-sharp teeth lined along both jaws. It had no eyes, but it didn't need them, for its sense of smell was extremely keen, and, as far as Wesker could tell, it had a full intent of eating this woman alive. The woman, in the meanwhile, was a different story. She was running as fast as she could, not stopping to take a breath, although it was clear she was very tired and about ready to collapse.  
  
Wesker stared for a moment, then grinned softly. This woman looked like someone that was on one of Umbrella's files...somebody who knew about the virus and the conspiracies, and who had never been caught by the pharmaceutical company, no matter how long they chased her since they started five years ago, after Rowan, Sherry, Rachel, and Brad escaped the facility. This woman was the aunt of Rowan, and the supposed Foster mother of Sherry Birkin. If all of this was true...then she'd be a good host for him, and he might be able to get information out of her about the S.T.A.R.S. members...particularly Brad. And wherever Gartha was, Rowan and Sherry would probably be nearby...  
  
*Excellent stroke of luck.*  
  
His right hand flew down to his waist, reaching for the Colt Python that was sheathed on the belt he wore. A grin appeared on his face as he placed a finger through the trigger space, and lifted it up with great agility, twirling it and swiftly pointing it at the creature, a Hunter Gamma, he identified it as, before pressing against the trigger without falling back from the backfire of the gun. The monster squealed indignantly, refusing to give up as the bullet tore through its lower torso, and lunged at the woman again, letting out a beastly roar before swiping at her with its claws, only to fall back as another bullet struck its target, right in the center of its forehead. It swayed there for a moment, the blank look on its normally fierce face showing before it fell limply to the ground, where it stayed.  
  
Gartha froze where she was running, and stole a glance behind her to see the dead body of the already dead monster, unsure of what to say or do as she turned to face the one who had saved her life. She didn't know who this man was, and she felt somewhat uncertain about trusting him, but, she stumbled forward a little, gasping for breath before rasping out, "Thank you...so...much..."  
  
"All in a day's work," Wesker replied smugly, twirling the gun in his hand before shoving it back into the sheath, a grin on his face again as he advanced towards her. Around them, the undead who wandered the streets began to stumble towards them, crying piteously and without reason, although it would take a while for them to reach them, unless a few dogs or other mutations would decide to join the army. Quickly, Wesker held out a hand, placing it reassuringly on her shoulder, meant to be in a comforting way, but causing her to tense up. "Are you alright, miss?" he asked in a soft tone, although it was covered in lies.  
  
"Y-Yes," she stammered, looking up at him softly, smiling weakly... but Albert could see the distrust deep in her eyes. She was afraid, yes, but he doubted she knew who he was. "I...thanks..." Another brief pause passed by, and she looked up at him yearningly. "What's...how did this shit happen?"  
  
"I wish I knew," Albert lied, frowning softly. "When I came out of my house, this happened...there was nobody left alive in the area."  
  
"Which can't be good," Gartha whispered hastily, more to herself than to Albert. "Oh my God...," she said again staring at him, "sir...I need your help... You see, my two daughters..."  
  
"Yes?" he cut in, blinking. Weren't they with her? They should be...unless they got away... "And my name is...Jack." A change of name was a good thing...perhaps the S.T.A.R.S. members informed her about him...then she would be more wary.  
  
"I'm Gartha," the woman responded, sighing. "And my daughters...they went to Topeka and Birchenville to pick up their friends...I'm afraid what happened to them... Those cities are safe, right?"  
  
"Not neccessarily," he replied slowly, as if he was in thought for a few seconds. "It's possible that whatever happened here happened there as well."  
  
"No...no, that can't be...Rowan and Sherry...they're my daughters, you see...they're in danger, I have to get to them-"  
  
"-GARTHA!! Oh, thank God you're alright!" an all too familiar voice rang out, one of a man with a slight New York accent. When Wesker, a.k.a. 'Jack', looked to his side, he saw a group of ten people running to them, guns in their hands, acquired from a local gun shop or something. A look of recognition flickered across the man's eyes as he saw who spoke, and as he saw the rest of the group. This was them...this was the S.T.A.R.S. team...and 'Chickenheart' Vickers was speaking "We thought you were..." Brad froze almost immediantly when he saw who was standing beside Gartha, and his breath caught in his throat.  
  
Behind him, Chris Redfield stepped up, rage flickering like a flame in his eyes, a frown finding its way to his lips. Instinctively, Chris placed a hand on his chin, a place where Wesker had struck him when they fought in Antarctica. When he spoke, his voice was of malice. "Wesker...? What the hell-"  
  
"You've arrived quickly enough," Albert hissed hastily, abandonning his kind tone and replacing it with one that matched the rage in Chris' voice. He roughly shoved Gartha ahead and into Rachel, who quickly began to support her, while he grinned and stared at the Redfield brother for a moment, smirking. "I see you've remembered where you've been struck the last time we've met," he said again, nodding to where Chris rubbed his chin as he recalled the memories. "Do you care for a rematch?"  
  
"Any day, you son of a bitch!" he hissed suddenly, then lunged forward, only to be pulled back by his sister, Claire, and his partner, Barry. Chris howled out in rage, wanting to rush forward and tear the enemy apart, but he was restricted to do so...  
  
"Chris, don't be an asshole!" Jill snapped suddenly, looking over to the man and placing a shoulder firmly on his shoulder. "He's not human any more...more like a goddamned freak! You'd be no match...!"  
  
"Yes, listen to you friend, Chris," Wesker hissed again, smirking. "Listen to your friend, the one who was almost killed back in the mansion by *my* traps!" He was coaxing him into trying to fight with him, and Wesker was enjoying watching Chris screw his face up in rage, bearing his teeth and snarling in a feral manner. He smirked again, before turning once more to face the rest of the group, remembering each one as if he had only seen them in the mansion yesterday.   
  
"It's so...*excellent* to see you all again," he snarled venemously, grinning. "All of you...my former S.T.A.R.S. team! The newcomers! Traitors to Umbrella!" He smirked and looked over them all, meeting the death glare from each person, while his glare was of wry glee. "I've known plenty of you before...some of you are new faces...but you...you aren't," he added, turning to look at Alice, leaning towards her a little bit, watching as she tensed and Carlos got a little protective, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. "I remember you from the Hive..."   
  
Alice recoiled at that, and growled softly, narrowing her eyes until they were slits. "How do you know about the Hive?" she snapped. "How do you know about *me*?!"  
  
"I was watching you...you and your pathetic friends...Kaplan, Spence, Rain...even that poor boy Matt. He made a good Nemesis, wouldn't you say, Jill? Brad? Carlos? He made a great B.O.W.!"  
  
"Shut up!" Alice shouted preparing to lunge at him, hands clenched into fists as she was ready to pounce his skull in, but Carlos held her back, much the way Jill and Barry held Chris back. Wesker smirked at her reaction before looking over to them all.  
  
"Your insults won't work on us, y'know," Brad whispered softly, the fear and memories that had died so long ago bubbling up inside of him. Wesker looked over to him and grinned.  
  
"You know, Chickenheart, you've actually grown a backbone!" he snapped, cracking his knuckles a little bit and watching the other boy recoil slightly. "Yes, yes...all of you've changed...grown stronger. Perhaps you'll be better game for me."  
  
Gartha looked up at him, eyes narrowed. "Why did you help me if you're only a goddamned heartless bastard?" she hissed, unsure of what to do.  
  
Wesker nodded to her. "For information. I know who you are...You're Rowan's aunt...Sherry's Foster mother." Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Leon and Claire come to attention when the little girl's name came to their ears. "You're a friend of S.T.A.R.S. ... I figured you'd be able to tell me where everyone was... Well, I don't need to know where this group is, they've come to me, but I *do* know where your precious little brats are..."  
  
"You lay one hand on them-"  
  
"Oh no, *I* won't, but one of my pets will." He frowned. "I will deal with you right now...I'll eliminate all of you now."  
  
He turned suddenly, and flung himself at Chris, who recoiled back in surprise before Wesker's fist connected with his stomach, sending him flying back and onto the ground some feet away. Jill shouted out in shock, and lunged at the former S.T.A.R.S. captain gone traitor, only to be grabbed by the throat and lifted into the air, then tossed precariously to the side. Brad and Barry both managed to grab their guns, but they were kicked out of their grasp by a swift movement from the super-human's legs, and both people were knocked to the ground with another kick. Rebecca and Claire began to jump for him, and were thrown roughly to the ground, clutching the ribs were Wesker's fist had tenderized. Carlos nodded to Chris, and both reached for their weapons, and were unable to get ahold of them, for Albert had struck them down as well with his two fists, and was about to crush their vertebraes when a fist connected with the base of his skull. He recoiled, then swung around to meet the blazing eyes of Gartha, and quickly thrust his fist against the side of her head, narrowly missing the temple and sending her collapsing to the ground. Before Alice or Rachel could react, they too was tossed upon the ground, and Wesker stood over all of them, reaching down to his waist and grabbing for the Colt Python, ready to anhialate his enemies once and for all-  
  
-but something pierced the skin of his back, just missing his spine, and tore through his stomach, coming out on the other side and landing in the ground in front of him. The one drawback at having super-human powers was that he still felt pain, no matter how little the pain was. Normally, it wouldn't bother him, for he was so used to getting shot at, swiped at, bitten, as he was, all in all, a creation of Umbrella, and was often pitted against creatures to show off his skills...but having a Caliber's bullet tear through your flesh is a painful experience, a very painful one at that. But who did it?  
  
He swung around quickly, meeting the gaze of the same fifteen year old boy he had seen running from the two Cerberuses before, who was now clutching a .45 Caliber Pistol between his two hands, pointing it at him, eyes narrowed, teeth bared. From the look on his face, he was pissed, probably because he was getting chased by monsters, and nearly killed a few times. Wesker frowned and began to advance towards him, but another bullet shot through the air, striking his neck, striking what would've been the jugular, although there was no real blood in it. The blood that spilled was dead and lumpy, coagulated...but the pain was overbearing. Clutching his throat, he fell to the ground, completely still, and temporarily unconcious.  
  
Cole Taylor lowered his weapon, staring over at the fallen corpse of the man before walking swiftly towards the group on the ground, holding out a hand and helping them up, one by one, until they all stood, clutching their sore areas painfully. He stared at them for a minute as they began to regain composure, and waited until they were done before he cleared his throat and looked over to them awkwardly, unsure of what to say. Leon looked up at this, and made his way to the boy, smiling down at him and leaning down to be the same height as him.  
  
"Hey," he said quite softly, "thanks for that. You saved our lives."  
  
Cole grinned sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head in embarrasement. He hadn't been used to this kind of attention. Come to think of it, he didn't have friends in a long time. Instead, he looked up and nodded, grinning softly. "Uh...no problem..."  
  
"I'm Leon Kennedy. These are my friends..."  
  
"I'm...Cole Taylor," he whispered in reply, sighing. "It's nice to meet you...but...uh..."  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"What's going on in this town?"  
  
In all honesty, this felt like déjä vu for Brad and Jill...it felt like when they first met Rowan in Raccoon City five years ago...five long years. Now, they were good friends, more like a family...and, for a moment, the meeting between Cole Taylor and Leon felt like a blast from the past. Leon looked to COle, then nodded softly, turning to look down the road, sighing.   
  
"We've made a safe spot in the city... a lot of people are there," he said quietly, looking back at the boy. "When we get there, we'll tell you what's going on...we'll tell everyone."  
  
"I like that idea," Cole said with a grin, nodding.  
  
"Do you have any family, Cole?" Leon asked. "We'll go look for them, if you want."  
  
Cole looked uncomfortable for a moment, then shook his hea,d looking down at the ground. "I've lived as an orphan for about...waht, five, four years? I don't remember...but my parents are dead... I've no relatives that are nearby, either."  
  
Leon shifted his gaze to the ground for a moment, then stood up, placing a hand on the boy's shoulder before turning to look down the street again, then back down. "Let's...get you outta here, to the safe spot." He paused, then looked over to the rest of the group. "And...then we'll let the world know...about Umbrella."  
  
The rest could only nod, while Cole grinned softly, the sadness in his eyes being replaced with a little bit of joy of having met survivors, survivors who knew what was happening to this town... Silently, he sighed, walking beside Leon and the others while they trudged down the road, weapons out, occasionally firing when a monster got too close...for the monsters had fled to the north, as well as towards where everyone else was. If any monster was left here, it would go after them... As they walked, Cole got to know who these people were, and learned their names, as well as making short conversation with them. Perhaps this tragedy that happened to the town of Manitou would end up with a good outcome...and a family for Cole.  
  
On the ground behind them, Wesker stirred, rubbing his head softly, and grumbling something incoherent under his breath. He heard the conversation, for he was about half-concious, and he knew where they were heading...for he, too, could smell the strong scent of flesh coming from both the north and down the road...but he had an idea. Slowly, he began to push himself off of the ground when he was sure there was nobody nearby, then made it to his feet. With one last look down the road, he took off to the alleyway he tried to get to before...  
  
*~*~*~*  
  
Alright...good chappie? We'll go back to Rown and Sherry and the others in the next chapter, so, R&R!! plz? 


	8. Chapter 7

Resident Evil: End Game  
  
Chapter 7  
  
  
  
Time was flying rather quickly as Rowan sped down the road and towards the capital of Kansas, Topeka, anxious to pick up the remaining two friends in her little gang. Celica was now in the back seat, assisting Sherry, who was wrapping cloth around the wounds Shiva had aquired from her father and brother. The rags had once been tee-shirts that Rowan and Sherry owned, and had grown out of, using them as rags to clean things...but the ones that were wrapped around Shiva had been cleaned the previous day, for the two sisters had feared that Shiva would be in trouble with her parents. Celica sighed softly, wrapping a single piece of black clothe, that was now fading to a slight gray, around the younger girl's arm, watching as she winced in slight pain before allowing her to wrap it around the wound.  
  
*Damn those two to Hell...That father...the son...how the Hell could they do something like this to their own flesh and blood?!* Celica frowned at the thought, her eyes brightly shimmering with red hot anger. *The bastards...I hope they get arrested or something...*  
  
Silently, she sighed, reaching down to absently rub her arm, then straighten her white tee-shirt as well as her denim jeans, before returning to dressing Shiva's wounds. In about five minutes, all visible wounds were wrapped, and Celica leaned back, giving Shiva a light pat on the back before looking out of the car window for a moment, watching the buildings of Topeka rush by as they drove on. They had just entered the huge city, and were on their way to pick up Greg, then Derek. Pedestrians paced the streets and sidewalks, conversing with their families or friends, or carrying bags, showing that some had just been out shopping. Cars passed by rather quickly, while others were slower than others...but Rowan, at the moment, didn't care. Right now, all she wanted to do was pick up Derek and Greg, then head to the movies. Not only was she anxious to meet her friends again, but she was anxious to get home and meet her older friends, the ones she hasn't seen in five years.  
  
*The ones I haven't seen since Raccoon,* she thought wearily, grinning softly.  
  
She failed to notice the Umbrella truck that drove past her and down the road...she wasn't looking to that side, and her mind was on other things...  
  
Rowan turned right on the road she was already on, hurrying past a strip mall and hurtling towards the area where a city bus sat, loading passengers that stood before it. She parked behind it, with the engine still on, and watched as the last passenger, a young woman holding a sleeping infant in her arms, boarded the bus, and watched as the vehicle closed the doors, then, with a jolt of the engine, began to head down the street...and, in their wake, she saw Derek and Greg leaning against the glass/plastic bus stop, staring at their car and grinning softly.   
  
The attire they wore was very normal... Derek wore a simple red tee-shirt, as well as black jeans. His hair looked extremely odd...parted in the middle, but it had different hair styles on each side. The left side of his hair was braided and slightly greasy, while the right side of his hair was sticking up in an affro. Greg, in the meanwhile, still had his normal hairdo. is clothes consisted of a green shirt with the silver lettering of the word 'Quicksilver' written across it, and he had on a pair of denim jeans. He smirked at us before heading over to the car quickly, hands shoved in his pockets, winking at Rowan before pulling the back door open and climbing in, followed closely by Derek, who grinned a little as Celica gave him a quick embrace.   
  
*Those two are growing into each other,* Rowan noted to herself, closing her eyes and sighing softly. *And Greg's...growing on me. He's a cute sonnuva bitch...but I can't...*  
  
She looked behind her to lock eyes with Greg, who winked once again, waving his right hand. A faint glow of crimson began to form on Rowan's cheeks, and she grinned sheepishly back before turning to face the road in front of her, while reaching over for the and pushing it into the first gear. The car began to rattle a bit, then started to move down the road, slightly sluggishly until after about a minute. The radio nearby her played the song 'Falling' by Mudvayne, but the volume was down very low, so they could only hear a few of the high-pitched notes in the songs, as well as the chorus in it. Sighing, she looked back again for a second, smirking and speaking in a light-hearted voice.  
  
"So...what'cha wanna do?" she asked, raising a brow before looking back to the road, hitting the brakes a little so that she could easily turn a corner. "Any movies? Arcades? Shit like that?"  
  
"Uh...aren't they playing the new Hannibal movie at the theater back at Birchenville?" Greg asked, cringing slightly when she saw Shiva shudder at the name, and he smiled apologetically. She grinned to him, then nodded in forgiveness, while Sherry leaned back and into the seat, yawning a little and rubbing her eyes. Celica, in the meanwhile, looked up over to Greg, then smirked.   
  
"That movie's about the Hanny when he was young, right?" she inquired, raising a brow. She saw Greg nod, and she returned the gesture, looking back at Rowan, who was still watching the road. "Yeah...the movie...you guys wanna see it?"  
  
Derek grinned a bit and nodded to her. "Hannibal kicks ass, y'know," he mused. "And what the Hell is Hanny? Yer pet name for him?"  
  
"Bite me, Derek."  
  
The boy laughed at that, and quickly, a devilish grin began to from on his voice, and he lowered his voice so that it sounded close to Anthony Hopkins' voice in his movies. "Where and how hard?" he hissed, flashing his pearly white teeth and gnashing them a little bit for added effects, causing the other girl to giggle a little.   
  
Rowan and Sherry rolled their eyes, while Shiva simply grinned, as did Greg. Both found it quite humurous, as did the two Foster sisters. Sherry smirked a little and turned to face the two lovebirds, snickering. "You two flirts might as well get a room...then you could...uh...how should I say this..." Her eyes flickered with mischief for a moment, and Rowan looked back, chuckling and nodding. Sherry nodded and looked back at the two. "Then you could get all the snacks you want..."  
  
Rowan burst into a fit of chuckles as she turned and began to drive back to Birchenville, while Derek and Celica blushed a bright ruby, then wrapped their arms around their shoulders, grinning awkwardly. Shiva, Sherry, and Greg laughed out as they watched thier two embarrassed friends try to get over the little joke the young blonde had said. Rowan looked back for a second, then burst out laughing when she saw the expressions on their faces, while Derek frowned a little bit, humor gleeming behind his black eyes.  
  
"Oh...kiss my ass," he said simply, smiling a bit as Celica snuggled her head into his chest, sighing in content.  
  
Rowan looked up, her mouth opening to say a comeback, but the words that were about to come out of her mouth hung there, then diminished. Her eyes locked onto something she saw drive towards them, then past them, followed by three others. They were trucks...black trucks, almost like armored ones, except these didn't carry money or such. Normally, she would've thought they were just hauling something that needed a lot of protection, like jewels, or something along those lines, but those were immediantly ruled out of her mind when she saw the hexagonal emblems painted on the sides...an emblem with six acute triangles, colored red, white, then red again, in a pattern...  
  
A pattern that was on an emblem she knew all too well.  
  
Curiousity and confusion peeked into her mind, and slowly, she began to turn the car around, although nobody else in the car noticed. They were too busy chittering...except for Sherry, who happened to look up in time to see the last truck pass by, and her eyes widened to the size of saucers...  
  
Umbrella was obviously having a convention of somesort...or something else... But whatever it was, something in the pit of Rowan's stomach began to turn...the horror that something was going, that something horrible was about to happen, or was happening at that very moment. And, althought Rowan tried to shove the thought away, she couldn't...it soon began to fog up all other thought, and silently, she followed the trucks, curious to see where they were going...  
  
  
  
...And hoping that her rising suspicions weren't true.  
  
**********  
  
Dear Journal,  
  
Everything is falling apart...at least, now it is. Only an hour ago, my grandmother fell asleep for her daily nap. Only a half hour ago, my father helped me catch a baby snake out in the backyard, which, at this moment, is laying inside of the little cage behind me, in my room. Only ten minutes ago, I was playing Tekken 3 with my girlfriend...  
  
And only two seconds ago, all Hell has broken loose.  
  
There are monsters in the streets...  
  
That's right, monsters. Things that go bump in the night. Creatures with big ass teeth, sometimes claws, and that are hunting down all the living things in the area. And what's worst is that these creatures are undead...fucking zombies, and they want blood...anything's blood...  
  
And my mother and father are outside with them, banging on the windows which are now starting to crack, clawing at the wooden doors and leaving it splintered as they tried in vain to get in. There are about twenty or so of them outside of my house...and they want in, want me, want my grandmother who is fast asleep upstairs. They already ate some of my family members... My mother and father tried to get them away from the house, confused as to why they were attacking at first, and hoping to get them help, for, at the moment, my parents thought they were injured people that must've gotten into a car crash or were in a building that collapsed on them...and when they tried to help, one of them bit my mother. Her screams attracted the attention of the rest of the monsters close by, and slowly, they hurtled towards the area Mum and Dad were in. In a mattaer of second, they were pinned down, torn into mercilessly, while I had no choice but to stand and watch. I managed to grab the broom by the door, and began to smack the shit out of some, killing, I think, one, and knocking the legs out from underneath another one before they began to head towards me... I had no choice but to get back into the house, and, from the window, I saw watched as my half-eaten parents rose from the ground, their mouths opening and closing in low groans, whilst the rest began to claw at the house.  
  
My girlfriend was also a victim... She tried to run after I got back in the house, the fear overtaking her. I heard her screaming as she fled from my house, her possible safe-spot, and, despite my calls for her to come back, she did not return. I saw her fall victim to another line of the undead, but she did not rise again.  
  
Outside, I can hear gunfire, and I can hear screams. Out of the cracked windows, I can see people firing weapons...especially these men wearing black suits with a red and white Umbrella symbol on them. They have become abundant in the last few minutes...I mean, they arrived in the nick of time, right after my girlfriend, Tara, was killed... It's really suspicious of them...  
  
I can also see the people outside running from the area, screaming, some being caught by the zombies outside, and, once in a while, a new type of creature, like that long-clawed monster that had begun lurking around here...a thing that looked like a giant lizard. Everyone's dying, and I know that I will soon wind up joining them. The Umbrella people didn't kill the monsters by my house yet...or, perhaps, they weren't aiming for them. Once in a while, a bullet would penetrate a window where I would be standing by, as if they were trying to kill *me*...  
  
But I would not die by the hands of these beasts that stood outside of the house. I wouldn't be killed by the monsters that claimed my Mom and Dad, as well as Tara. I wouldn't...I won't let them...  
  
My father always kept a gun in the cellar, and he would use it when he went out hunting for game, like deer, or ducks. It was a rifle, and, although I know it would be messy, it would get the job done. Besides, I've got nothing to live for anymore...my family is dead, except for my Grandma, who wouldn't wake up if the world was coming to the end, which, oddly, seems like what is happening right now.  
  
Another bullet just flew through the window, narrowly missing my head, and I silently cursed the Umbrella person's horrible aim, wishin it would've hit me. I made my way into the cellar, grabbed the gun, and I am still down here. I've got the gun in my right hand, and I'm writing with my left...  
  
These are my final moment, my final goodbye's. I wonder if anyone will make it out of this hellish city, and, for those who didn't, at least they won't have to live through this crazy world...this world full of corruption and turmoil. I wonder if anybody will find this journal...I wonder if those Umbrella people would destroy the monsters outside and try to save me, only to find me no longer amongst the living. That would be ironic.   
  
Upstairs, I can hear the glass shatter, I can hear shuffling feet, rising pitiful moans, low growls...The monsters have gotten in.  
  
Farewell to my life. Farewell to my home...  
  
And good luck to those who wish to get out of this place...  
  
Goodbye,  
  
Frank Nepolia, 18  
  
**********  
  
The Umbrella trucks had sped along the road rather quickly, too quickly, as if they were trying to get to something in time. Rowan did not like that, it made her suspicions fill her mind, made the worries and nightmares of the past fly past her eyes, and yet, she mentally slapped herself. Why would she want to go back into danger? She had her friends in the car...even if something was gravely wrong, would she really want to put them in danger? Inwardly, she urged herself to run back and head to Birchenville again, but another part of her concious told her to keep going, to find out what was going on.  
  
Celica looked up from her conversation between Shiva, Sherry, and Derek, and stared at Rowan in question. She blinked for a moment, then opened her mouth, speaking in a puzzled tone of voice. "Rowan?"  
  
"Yeah...?" the older girl responded, looking back for a moment before turning to face the road again, staring at the trucks ahead of her.   
  
"Birchenville's the other way."  
  
"I know."  
  
"Why are we going this way...?"  
  
"Cuz, uh...I wanted to see if the theater in Topeka is open, maybe get better seats there y'know?"  
  
"Oh," Celica whispered softly, and turned back to her friends, grinning and still conversin, while Rowan reached her right hand out and struck her own face lightly, cursing under her breath. She couldn't do this, couldn't endanger the lives of her friends...  
  
...But she had to make sure that Umbrella didn't endanger thousands of more lives like they had done over five years ago...and afterwards.  
  
She watched the trucks enter Topeka, and continued to follow them, watching as other people continued to walk throughout the area. As she followed the vehicles deeper into the city, she saw the people become more frantic, some running along the sidewalks, screaming a little before turning into corners or houses. And then, about one minute later, the sidewalks were filled with crowds of civilians, all trying to run frantically from the area they came from, the boundary between Topeka and the route to Manitou. The four teenagers sitting behind her looked up at this, gasping and speaking softly, in confused voices. They were afraid, suddenly, for this looked like what had happened during 9/11...people running from the streets. For a fleeting second, they were afraid that it was another terrorist attack, and began to shout for Rowan to pull over.  
  
But when they looked over to Rowan, they saw her eyes captivated by something ahead of them, her orbs wide and black, filled with both shock and lack of emotion. For a moment, she looked like somebody who had her soul ripped from her body, and, when the group looked to see what she was staring at, they gasped and screamed.  
  
There were people coming through the streets, arms outstretched as they gurgled softly for blood. Their bodies were wrecks...bloody and torn, with some clothes, skin, as well as limbs missing. Some of them had arms that were bloody stumps, and some were clawing at the ground, dragging themselves along, for they were missing the lower portions of their bodies, and their entrails were dragging along the gravel and cement of the road. Blood trailed behind them...and their eyes were soulless white pits, with no emotion, or life, visible in them. Their skin was pale, or painted red with blood...  
  
They were dead, yet they kept moving.  
  
Rowan opened her mouth in surprise, then closed it again, taking in a deep breath and watching as the trucks ahead of her stopped. The back doors of them shoved open, and men and women clad in black suits made their way out, fumbling for their guns, mostly submachines, and heading towards the monsters. They lined up in a straight line, rose their weapons, and bright flashes began to appear as the bullets showered forth. The monsters ahead stumbled a little, some falling to the ground, staying there or resorting to crawling while others simply regained composure and moved forward again. Around them, they heard screams from the civilians, who were now trying to get as far away from the area as possible. Rowan gasped now, turning to look at Sherry, who locked eyes with her before shaking her head in confusion and utter terror. Behind them, Celica and Shiva erupted into long, harsh screams of horror, while Derek and Greg simply stared, wide eyed, too scared to say anything. For a fleeting moment, Rowan wondered if any of them had wet the car's seats, but the humurous thought dissappeared within an instant, for she began to hit the gas, spinning the car around harshly and causing the people in the car to jump. Rowan gritted her teeth, then began to fly down the road, but she hit the brakes again. A thought crossed her mind, and she remembered Raccoon City.  
  
The civilians there never stood a chance. They were killed, and only a few had survived, only to be killed by the blast from the napalm Umbrella had ordered to hit the city. Her thoughts drifted to present day, and she wondered if any of the people here stood a chance. She gulped for a minute, more thoughts piling into her head, thoughts about Brad, about Rachel, about Gartha...they were in Manitou. Those creatures came from Manitou...What if...  
  
*Stop it,* Rowan scolded herself. *They're alive, they have to be. They know what to do in a situation like this, and so do you. Now, do what you know is right and help these people!*  
  
She nodded softly to herself, and she turned to face the people in the back seat of her car. She began to speak, but their screams drowned out her voice. She hesitated for a moment, then cleared her throat.  
  
"HEY!" she hissed, her voice full of terror, and yet, there was an almost parent-like tone in her voice. Shiva and Sherry stopped screaming, Derek and Greg looked over to her in an instant, and Sherry continued to stare at her, recognition of the situation flashing across her features. Smiling in satisfaction that she gained their attention, she turned her gaze to her left, where the bus she saw before when she picked up Derek and Greg was parked, engine off, and empty. Looking back to Derek, she spoke again. "Derek, you can hotwire, right?" The boy nodded. "Good. GO start that bus up. I'll be there to drive it in a minute." Derek frowned, opening her mouth to question the girl, but instead said nothing, and took off for the bus, slamming the car door shut behind him.  
  
Next, Rowan looked over to Celica, Sherry, Shiva, and Greg. "You guys, help me get everyone's attention."  
  
The four nodded to her and hurried out of the car, while Rowan followed a few seconds later after grabbing something from the glove compartment of the car, running into the center of the road and screaming out for attention. She got no attention, and the people continued to flee. Sherry and Greg joined in, then Sherry and Celica followed. Their combined voices gained some gazes and quieted some people, but others still kept yelling. Frowning, they shouted out louder, and many more people stopped to look at them, but the ones who kept ignoring them did not pay attention, and continued running. The people in the area had quieted down significantly, and it was almost completely quiet, save for the gunfire, the random screams, and the groans of the monsters nearing the area. The Umbrella people were ignoring them slightly, still firing at the zombies, which still began to climb from the ground, acting as if the bullets had missed, save for the unlucky few who managed to get a bullet in the head or spine.   
  
But that ignorance of the Umbrella people was short-lived, for they turned to them for a moment, then raised their guns again, aiming...for them.  
  
Rowan began to speak quickly, motioning towards the now thrumming bus across the street, and shouting out, "Get to the bus, get on!! We're getting you guys outta here!"  
  
The citizens didn't hesitate. They nearly trampled over each other as they piled into the bus, narrowly dodging the bullets that began to spray from the submachine guns of Umbrella, while a few fell down, injured or dead. Rowan and Sherry exchanged glances, and quickly took for the bus, watching as the ones who had been injured were shot until killed, and anger began to glow in both of their faces. Rage began to grow...and it took Rowan all her might not to charge at the Umbrella assailants. She ran into the bus, followed by her friends, and ushered Derek out of the seat before sitting in it, grabbing the steering wheel, not waiting for the people in the bus to sit down as she slammed her foot into the gas. The bus jolted forward, and she turned it around, not too sharply, afraid it might overturn, and bulletted down the road while the bullets that Umbrella was firing hit the bakside of the bus, penetrating a few windows, and striking a few people before they were out of sight.  
  
Somewhere behind them and in the line of Umbrella assailants, a pair of glowing reptilian eyes watched the bus leave, and a chuckle erupted from his throat before he took off after them. 


	9. Chapter 8

Resident Evil: End Game  
  
Chapter 8  
  
  
  
Maria Dradcliffe was more bored than she had ever been in her life. TOday, like all days, was boring, and unimportant, at least for now, anyway. She had been sent to interview the manager of the electric company in Birchenville to ask questions about the recent blackout that had taken place...and she wondered if it was worth it. Electricity? Big woop... A small blackout? Who cared? It was over now, wasn't it? Oh well...she would have to get the questions answered to satisfy the people who were concerned about the electric company.  
  
Silently, she brushed her hands over her long blonde hair, which had been tied into a long ponytail. Her deep yellowish-brown eyes glimmered a little bit in the afternoon sun as she shifted her head a little, reaching down to brush off her gray suit...a simple gray jacket that was wrapped around a white blouse. She had on a gray skirt, as well, and wore brown tights, along with a pair of black dress shoes. Sighing in exasperation she reached up for her hair again absently adjusted her spectacles before straightening up and looking to her right.  
  
"Ready for the boring shit, Jack?" she asked to the man who stood beside her.  
  
Jack Verona nodded, adjusting the television camera that was on his shoulders. His hair was a deep black, and went down below his shoulder-blades. He wore a similar suit to Maria's, save for the skirt, which was replaced by gray pants. He wore black sneakers, and did not wear tights, mind you. His eyes, bright green orbs, turned to the right, making sure that the equipement for going on television live was ready...   
  
Everything was set up.  
  
Nodding in affirmation, he turned his head around to face Maria, grinning softly, an amused look on his face. "Pretty annoyed, huh?" he asked, his voice a deep baritone.  
  
"Sick and tired of the lame shit like this, Jack," she hissed again, her voice full of spite, as well as tinges of fatigue. "The boss is always giving us these dumbass interviews...An electric blackout?" She waved her hand in the air in dismissal. "Honestly, who would give a damn...?"  
  
Jack shook his head and turned around, once again adjusting the camera on his shoulder before looking back at her and shaking his head. "Maybe he's just making us do this shit because there isn't anything going on in this town? This place is boring as Hell..."  
  
"I hear you," Maria replied, placing her head between her hands before turning to look down the road, and at the huge electric company that sat in front of them. The building itself was pure white, and it was slowly shifting to a creamy yellow, showing that it was being struck by the elements as it aged. The generators in the back pounded and hummed loudly, and the two could barely make out the bustle and voices of the workers inside. The woman shook her head, and slowly rubbed her eyes before nodding to the cameraman, raising her hand up and making a gesture for him to follow her with the equipement. Jack obeyed, and, before allowing her to walk ahead, he handed her the microphone she would be needing. She clutched onto it and nodded before walking towards the building, another sigh escaping her mouth.  
  
"For once...I wish something exciting would happen," she murmered, shaking her head before letting out a groan of exasperation. She made her way towards the door silently, not saying another word, until she came face to face with the steel door before them. Lowering her head in slight shame, she rose her hand to knock.  
  
**********  
  
"It's happening...I can't believe it's starting all over again..."  
  
Rowan was murmering slowly to herself, rubbing her eyes with her hands, trying to keep the tears that had been threatening to fall at bay. She felt like she was being torn apart from the inside out. This was too much...a past of her's was being relived. A nightmare was starting again, and, once again, she was a victim of a company's tyranny, trying to escape from a city that had been infested with undead monsters bent on only one thing...to feed. She felt like she was losing her mind, slowly slipping away from her sanity...  
  
But the scenario was different now. Rowan was older now, and she had friends along with her. She knew about Umbrella beforehand, and she was fighting to get the people out of the area that had been infested with zombies... She wouldn't make the same mistake twice, that mistake being losing her friends and her family, as well as the rest of the people in the city. The spread of the undead had just begun, so there was still time to warn the people of Birchenville, and maybe she would still be able to get ahold of her aunt and Brad, as well as everyone else...  
  
But what if the people of Birchenville didn't believe them? What if Brad, Gartha, Rachel, and everyone else was dead...?  
  
Anxiously, she reached down for the gun she had managed to grab out of the glove compartment of the car Aunt Gartha had lent her. She stared at the metallic item in her hands, studying it carefully, then propping it open to make sure there were bullets in them... It was full, and Rowan sighed in relief before closing it, once again looking over the gun.  
  
A Colt Python was what it was...the same gun she had used five years ago to fight against the undead that invaded her hometown. The same gun she had used to help hold the Nemesis back from her friends, the same gun she had used to blind the beast before they were able to escape the city via helicopter.  
  
The same gun that had saved her life countless times.  
  
The stench of those zombies still lingered in the air, and she suddenly felt sick, wishing that the smell would go away, that the sense of déjä vu would disappear like the morning fog always does. Her eyes fluttered a little bit, and a wave of dizziness suddenly overcame her. She groaned, reaching up and rubbing her forehead, while she heard footsteps in front of her, somehow louder then the loud commotion in the bus. Two strong arms reached down and were placed on her shoulders, and Rowan's eyes were averted towards the owner of those arms. Her eyes focused on the face of her friend, Greg, who was now leaning down beside her, nuzzling up beside her.  
  
Only about fifteen minutes ago, Sherry coaxed Rowan to get out of the driver's seat and let Derek drive, as she was beginning to act dizzy while she was at the wheel. Rowan had complied, and had pulled the bus over to the side of the road, getting out and moving behind the driver's seat, where she plopped down on an empty seat. Derek took the wheel and began driving towards Birchenville. The people who were on the bus were being calmed down by the rest of the group, as well as by a few random people who realized that nothing good was going to come if everyone was a nervous wreck, but, then again, after their incident, who wouldn't be afraid?  
  
Greg, in the meanwhile, sat beside Rowan and wrapped his arm around her shoulder, and she leaned into him, lonely tears of fright and old memories flowing down her face. She sobbed openly, her heartcracking, the memories of Raccoon City flooding back into her mind. Her body shook like a leaf, and Greg slowly hugged her, but not too tightly, as if she would break if she held her too tight. Rowan's grip on him, however, was like a death grip. She wouldn't let go, and she was afraid to, for some reason that he didn't know. Confusion dwelled on his face, and he reached down for her face, cupping it under her chin and lifting it so that her eyes could meet his. He almost flinched when he saw the look of devastation in those hazel eyes...  
  
*What happened ot her...? Maybe she's afraid...or...*  
  
"Rowan...?" he began, slowly brushing away the tears that were staining her face. She choked back a sob as he did this, pulling away a little, but only reaching forward and hugging him tightly again. More confusion appeared on his face as he tenderly brushed back her hair, then pulled away, rubbing her face and looking deep into her eyes. "Rowan...please, tell me...what's wrong...?"  
  
She didn't respond for a moment, and Greg grew more concerned. By this time, Celica was peering down at them from somewhere behind them, and Shiva looked back at them from ahead. He didn't care about that, however. All he cared about was that Rowan would be okay...and that she told him why she was so upset. Inside, he knew that was slightly stupid. She could be upset by the fact that the town was being overwhelmed by creatures that Greg had seen countless times in Romero's movies. However, something else was upsetting her, he could see it in her eyes...  
  
"Rowan...please..."  
  
This time, she did answer, her eyes glowing lightly with sadness and some deep depression, as if she was reliving a sad memory. She gave him a final squeeze in their embrace, then pulled away, leaning against the seat and pulling her legs onto it, where she hugged her knees. She turned her head away to look out the window, staring at the moving background of trees and lakes while she spoke.  
  
"Would you...really want to know...?" she asked softly, not turning to face him or anyone else. "Would you still trust me...if I...I told you?"  
  
"Why wouldn't I trust you, Row," greg replied, leaning forward a little bit, but the girl flinched slightly, pulling away before continuing to speak.  
  
"Those monsters out there...I...I'm afraid of them...I've...seen...seen them before..."  
  
Greg pulled back a little bit, slightly taken aback, but pushed away the shock and fear before shifting over to her side a little bit more. Shiva watched them more closely now, moving towards their seat a little bit, while Celica looked over to Greg and mouthed, "What's she talking about?" He shook his head in response, showing that he had no idea. He looked back at the girl he sat next to again, then asked, "What do you mean...?"  
  
"I've seen t-them before...," Rowan responded, just loud enough for her friends to hear. "Those creatures outside...those h-humans..." She paused for a moment, then crained her head to look over to them, her eyes sinking a little bit, it seemed. She looked like she was aging before them. "You r-remember...Rac-Raccoon City...? From five years ago...?"  
  
"The place that was destroyed, right?" Celica responded now, reaching for the seat and placing her hands on it, cocking her head when she saw Rowan recoil.   
  
"Y-yes...That place was my hometown..." Rowan paused, looking up to see the shocked expressions on her friends' faces. A small grin formed on her face, although there was no happiness in it, just slight amusement, as well as something grim. "T-They said that the place was...a, y'know...being invaded by a...deadly gang or something?" She saw them nod, and Rowan turned her face away to look out the window again. "T-They lied...The town ended just like Topeka is going to...The city was overrun by monsters..."  
  
"How...?" Shiva blurted out, but she didn't finish. She was unable to find the words.  
  
"...There was a virus...that turned...people into monsters like that. A virus...that killed any sanity you had, made you hunger for b-blood... made you undead... And it was created by a company you know so well..."  
  
"What company?" Celica asked, leaning over the seat to look down at her friend's face, which was contorted in one of emotional pain.   
  
"Umbrella..."  
  
"You mean...that the, uh...reports that we saw on the news about five years ago," Greg asked, cocking his head. "The reports about the mansion and the S.T.A.R.S. guys getting the boot because they blew the place up...The place was owned by Umbrella, I heard... so that means..."  
  
"...That they were wrong," Rowan continued, looking up to lock eyes with him. A lone tear escaped her eyes, and it trailed down her cheek, dripping off of her chin and falling upon her shirt, leaving a dark imprint on the black tee-shirt.   
  
"What...how did you find out about all this...?" Shiva asked, raising a brow, and watching her with slight fear as Rowan regained some of her composure to face them. The girl took a deep breath, then brushed back a strand of hair that was beginning to stick to her face because of the tears.  
  
"It's a long story..."  
  
**********  
  
He wandered after the bus for some time, now, and he didn't know how long he had been. He didn't care, however, as time did not bother him...all that bothered him was that the prey his master had ordered him to make sure was killed had gotten away in that moving piece of scrap metal. The thought of of failing his master angered him, and frightened him. If he failed, his master said he would make sure he would never be able to move again, that he would have to go back to the lab.  
  
He hated the lab.  
  
So, he kept journeying, knowing that, in a normal human, his legs would be tired from such a long walk. However, he was still full of energy, and, besides, he had been running for about ten minutes straight without stopping. He didn't need to stop to catch his breath...he wasn't human anymore... He didn't need to eat, didn't need to drink, didn't need to sleep... he was almost like a machine that didn't need any care, except for some supervision.  
  
He ran almost as swiftly as a large cheetah, and just as quickly. A small grin formed on his face as he felt the wind rush into his face, and it grew when he looked up to see the town of Birchenville up ahead, with the bus heading towards it.  
  
Smirking, he began to slow down, causing the wind to stop blowing his short, ear-length red hair. He began to walk towards the town instead of running, knowing that there would be no rush. Besides, when the bus stopped in town, there would be more people to kill, consisting of the townspeople, as well. The man snickered a little bit, and his yellow eyes began to shimmer brightly with anticipation of the oncoming massacre...  
  
And, slowly, the human that had once been known as Steve Burnside stalked off after the moving piece of metal, being sure to keep out of sight as he did.  
  
**********  
  
"Well, Miss...?"  
  
"Maria."  
  
"Alright then, Miss Maria, the blackout was simply caused by one of my employees accidentally turning the generators off. My worker was feeling very tired that day, and he told me that he fell asleep while on duty. He said he fell asleep by the power controls, and accidentally hit the switch..."  
  
Maria almost didn't pay attention while the man was talking. She wasn't even looking at him, actually. Her eyes were focusing on the wall behind him, as if there was something interesting there. She sighed in exasperation, causing the boss of the electric company to pause and look at her in concern for a moment before continuing his 'amazing' story.   
  
*It's not so amazing,* Stacey thought to herself as she stared at the wall. *Wow, some kid fell asleep at the controls...BIG DEAL! Who cares?! It would've been more interesting if the guy fell asleep on an electrical fence...*  
  
Jack looked away from the eyehole of the camera he held, and he stole a glance at the woman before reaching over to nudge her with his free arm. She snapped back to attention almost instantly, and shot a hateful glare at Jack, who simply grinned in response before focusing back onto the bos of the company, whom had paused yet again to see what was wrong, and if he missed something. Maria looked at him, and stared for a moment before shaking her head, telling him to continue his amazing story before she fell into an almost trace-like state as he spoke again. A single thought travelled across her mind as she did so.  
  
*When I get back to the office, I'm gonna kick my boss' ass...Tell him to give me better jobs to do. More livening ones...*  
  
Maria rubbed the back of her head while the boss of the electric company continued to speak about his oh so *incredible* story about the man falling asleep at the controls, who happened to accidentally brush his arm against the power switch, flicking it off. The woman simply stared at him, occasionally blurting out questions necessary for the report, without really caring if he answered, ignored her, or said something obscene while he did. She continued to ignore his words, his voice, and instead, began to think about other things, like what it would look like to have her boss bend over so she could kick his rear-end, or how life would be if she quit being a reporter...or if she was doing a more exciting job.  
  
She wondered if something exciting would happen...  
  
*Keep wishing-*  
  
Her thoughts were cut off when she heard the squealing of tires behind her, and she swung around, as did Jack, while the electric company's owner simply stared, blinking. What they saw shook them up a little bit, and it got Maria's adrenaline rushing. Perhaps something exciting would happen today...perhaps her wishes had been answered...  
  
What they saw was a city bus flying towards them, and Jack had to grasp at her arm and yank her away from the area, as she was rooted to the spot, a wide, insane grin on her face. By the time she realizaed she was being dragged along, the bus flew towards the electric company, heading straight for the boss, who stood, frozen with fear, eyes wide and body shaking. He was frozen with fear...and he couldn't move...  
  
But the bus stopped abrubtly before the man who stood before the electric company, and the man stared at it for a moment, eyes still widened, his mouth moving in silent, unheard screams. The front of the bus just grazed the tip his nose, and he could feel the heat that radiated off of the metal that had gained kinetic energy from the afternoon sun. If anyone had noticed, they would have seen the dark spot that had begun to form on the man's pants from the fright, and he stood for only a second later before he collapsed to the ground, unconcious, still trembling like a leaf.  
  
Maria was dimly aware of people getting out of the bus...only two. She could see hundreds of faces inside the vehicle, but she knew that was nearly impossible. A bus could only seat so many passengers...unless they had crammed in there, desperate to get away from something. She noted that the busdriver looked to be only around seventeen years old, and she also noted that the people coming towards her were no older than the boy who sat in the driver's seat. They consisted of a young girl and a young boy...and the girl looked like she had just gone through a nervous breakdown.   
  
Beside her, Jack blinked in pure confusion, while Maria simply stared, unsure of what to do or say. The girl approached her swiftly, wiping her still damp cheeks with her sleeve before looking at her with blazing eyes of anxiety. She opened her mouth, and began to speak quickly, while the boy approached the unconcious man, poking him in the ribs slightly before shaking him, trying to wake him up. The girl noticed that the reported was hardly paying any attention to her, that her eyes were focused on the bus before her, and she waved her arms in front of Maria's face, calling out and telling her to listen to her.  
  
The reported looked down and blinked.  
  
"We need to warn everyone in this town," the girl was saying in a quiet, frightened voice. "Is there any way I can get everyone's attention, and fast?"  
  
"Y-Yeah...," Maria began, shaking her head, rubbing her eyes, making sure this wasn't an illusion. When she removed her hands from her face, the scene was still the same as it was just a second ago, and she looked down at the child, nodding. "I'll...uh...bring you to this place...What's the rush?"  
  
"Well, you see," the girl began, and her voice was very serious, "there is danger coming to this town."  
  
"What kind of danger?"  
  
"The undead kind of danger. This town's about to be infested by people who only feast on flesh."  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
So? What'cha think? Sorry about the delay...writing two stories at once is kinda difficult!!   
  
I'm 15!!!!!! YEAH!! FREE CAKE FOR EVERYONE!!...though its kinda invisible... 


	10. Chapter 9

Resident Evil: End Game  
  
Chapter 9  
  
  
  
The group had been able to calm some of the people that had once lived in the beautiful city of Manitou, the city that had turned into a living graveyard. Some people were reluctant to stop shouting, or screaming, or crying, and they couldn't blame them...after all, they had probably lost a relative or a friend in the incident. Besides, Jill, Brad, and Carlos, as well as everyone else, had seen what Umbrella had done to people in the past. They had seen how they deprived people of their lives, and they knew the pain that came along with knowing that your family, friends, or the town you used to live in was taken away from you completely, never to return.  
  
Bu the people who had once lived in Manitou didn't know that screaming and shouting would lure the undead monsters to the area they had evacuated to, a large building that was close to the street that led to Topeka. They didn't know that if they kept up the noise, they would no longer be living, and so the group was trying their best to quiet them down, although their attempts were somewhat futile...for a little while, anyway. After a couple of minutes, about fifteen it seemed, the citizens had quieted down a little bit, although there were some who didn't, including the frightened baby that flailed in her mother's lap, wailing piteously. It also included the grown man who sat along the side of the wall, trembling and hugging his chest, while trying to hold back his own cries. It seemed that the dark building had frightened them, as well, for there were so many shadows that they had the eerie feeling that a monster could reveal itself at any moment and turn the place into a bloody massacre. But the lights had been turned off as a precaution. The undead were attracted to the any sounds, movement, sometimes even bright light... It wasn't as if the huge crown of people that sat in the building wasn't a danger, either. The scent of their living blood would surely lure the monster's to the area, so they would have to make short work of talking.  
  
Jill looked around anxiously, trembling badly while brushing her hair back instinctively. She didn't want to get into a situation like this again. Sure, she and the rest of her group had gone into plenty of Umbrella facilities, fought with plenty of monsters, but there had been only one city that had been infected. Now, there were two, and if things got worse, there would be more than that. Topeka was in danger of being infected, as was Birchenville...then, any town nearby would be liable to be attacked...  
  
Plus, Umbrella could send in one of their 'S.W.A.T.' teams, as well. That would definitely not be good news, for their idea of S.W.A.T. was a group that killed any survivors of the incident, a way to keep their accident quiet. No survivors, no witnesses, and there would be no peeps about Umbrella's experiments. Of course, Jill and the others had gotten away from them numerous times, but usually by the skin of their teeth. Only once had they been able to get away with hardly a scratch, and that was a one time thing. They couldn't take chances.  
  
She shook her head sadly, remembering Raccoon City, remembering the innocent lives that had been destroyed. So many had been tortured by Umbrella, so many had been killed, and those few who got away, including Rowan, normally lost a close relative. Rowan had been the unlucky one... She lost her mother, her father, her friends. She had no one to turn to, only her aunt and her close adult friends, the ones who had helped her get through the city. But even then, there had been plenty of times when she was nearly killed, or she nearly lost one of them...like the time Brad had been shot in the lower abdoment, narrowly missing his internal organs.   
  
She turned her head to the right, looking at Brad, who was leaning against the wall, clutching a small cellphone between his hands. He was trying to dial someone's number, and a worried expression was clear on his face. It was obvious who he was trying to get ahold of, but the frustrated look upon his face showed that he was having some difficulty getting anybody to answer.   
  
A phone rang, and it came from somewhere beside her, where Gartha was sitting. She looked up for a moment, then reached down to her side, lifting a small cellphone out of her pocket and looking at it, as if it were the first time she saw it. Hesitantly, she hit a button and placed it by her ear, speaking softly into it, causing a small, nervous laugh to erupt from Brad's mouth. He turned to face Gartha and shook his head, while she nodded in disappointement, flicking the phoned off and placing it back into her pocket whilst Brad did the same.   
  
*Gartha has Rowan's phone,* Jill thought to herself, shaking her head again before looking down at her feet. *There's no way we can get ahold of them now...unless she calls one of the phones... I wonder what's going on with her and the others...are they alright?*  
  
She heard a soft, sharp breath behind her, and turned almost immediantly to come face to face with a young boy, the same boy who happened to save them from the maniacal half-human that now wandered the streets, searching for them. The same boy who said that he was an orphan, that he wandered the streets alone, and has done so for many years...with a gun as protection. She watched with curiousity as the boy conversed with Leon, a small smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. It seemed Leon was good at jokes, for the boy was chuckling every now and then, as was the former R.P.D. officer.  
  
*Cole was the kid's name... Poor boy, all alone for so long...no one to look after him. No family, no friends...until now, hopefully.*  
  
She saw Leon catch a glimpse at her, and he grinned softly, nodding a bit before turning and motioning for Claire to join him in his little conversation with Cole. The younger Redfield looked over and nodded to him before walking over quietly, a solemn look upon her face, her eyes hardened with knowledge that had increased over the years. Jill noticed that and smiled a little, realizing that the years had passed by swiftly, and it didn't leave any of her friends untouched. All in all, they had all changed plenty, and all of them had grown more mature over the years.  
  
Jill shrugged her shoulders a little as she turned around to look at Chris, who was now standing in front of the crowd, raising his arms in front of his face and bringing them down again in a motion to try and get the rest of the unsettled group of civilians to quite down a bit. He cleared his throat slightly, looking towards Jill and motioning for her to join him, and she came to him obediantly, knowing what he needed her for at the moment. When she made her way towards the front of the group and by his side, she noticed that the civilians had quieted down significantly, and most, if not all, were staring at them, waiting for an answer as to what was going on. They had no idea what to do in this kind of situation...they had never dealt with sudden hordes of undead piling into their city, tearing at everybody in sight, murdering everything and leaving no one to tell the tale... They had never seen anything as incredibly eerie as this...they had never been hunted down by Umbrella, a company who had sworn to capture any survivors and terminate them.  
  
No no, these people were confused. They didn't know what to believe in anymore. Jill could see the look of fright and doubt on the people's faces as she passed them, and she saw a few tears running down a few cheeks. She saw some of their faces were pale and almost deathly, and that some people were shaking like a tree stuck in a tornado.  
  
She also caught the thick, metallic stench of blood. Some of these people had been injured, been bitten. If that was the fact, those people wouldn't have much time to live. those people would join the army of zombies outside, the same zombies who were heading to the very spot they hid in. They needed to get out, to find some help for the infected people, perhaps a vaccine. They needed to get out of the city alive...just like they needed to get out of Raccoon five years ago...   
  
The nightmare was coming back to life, Jill knew that, but there were plenty of things different now. For one, there was a whole group depending on them...a group of a hundred or more people who were willing to get out of the decaying place they sat in. Jill no longer only had three companions by her side, like she did in Raccoon. She was no longer in a maze-like building with deathtraps around every corner, like the Spencer Estate. No...this time, she had her partners alongside her. This time, they knew what to do, they knew how to get out of this place...  
  
She looked up at Chris and saw him smiling down at her, his smile slightly eerie and nervous. She saw his eyes, and automatically read the anxiety and grave fear that was placed firmly behind them. In a sense, she thought that those two feelings that were behind Chris' brown eyes was slightly ironic. Chris was the same person who, five years ago, had led them into Europe. He was the same person who fearlessly fought the undead beasts created by Umbrella in the mansion and the facilities, the same person who had taken damage to protect Jill and the others... And now, he was afraid because they were trapped in a city full of monsters only thought to exist in horror movies. But then again, maybe he was always afraid...maybe the heroic person that he always acted as was only a facade to his true feelings, his true fears. Maybe he was always afraid... afraid of death, of Umbrella winning, of the loss of his friends. He was afraid for his sister, she knew, and he was afraid of failing the most important mission of his life...the mission to destroy Umbrella. Maybe-  
  
She cut herself off then, locking eyes with him for a moment before nodding and facing the huge crowd before them. Now was not the time to ponder about past experiences or feelings. Now was the time to help innocent people escape the clutches of death.  
  
A soft sigh escaped her mouth, and Jill parted her lips to speak. Her voice came out softly, yet sternly, and it quivered slightly as the words formed.   
  
"Alright then!" she called out hoarsely, and the crowd before her silenced almost completely. Eyes turned to look at her, talking mouths slammed shut, and blank faces faced her, unsure of what to say or do. Wisely, none of them spoke, as they all wanted to hear the words that were going to be said. All of them wanted to know what was going on.  
  
Jill crained her neck to the left a little bit, smiling lightly when she heard a bone in her neck crack a little before she began to speak again. "You want to know what's going on here?" she shouted again, this time earning a few nods, as well as some shouts of answers. She paused, then nodded in approval. "If you want the truth, brace yourself," she hissed slowly. "Everything you know about the company called Umbrella was a lie."  
  
"What's Umbrella got to do with those fuckin' zombies outside?!" somebody in the crowd screamed, a male, and Jill looked towards the source of the voice, although she couldn't pick out who had said it.  
  
She sighed a little, then looked away, her face shifting into one of emotional anguish as she turned away from the crowd before bowing her head to stare at her feet. "Umbrella...is more than a pharmaceutical company...They made viruses that made humans into those zombies you saw outside. The mutations? They were once insects...animals...plants..." SHe looked back for a moment when the crowd began to speak to each other, confusion dawning on their faces as they conversed with one another, trying to figure out what she meant. "The viruses...were called the T-Virus...and G-Virus..." Jill cast a quick glance at CLaire, and she saw the younger Redfield nod in knowing. "There was also the T-Veronica Virus...and probably countless others that we haven't discovered yet..."  
  
"How would you know this?!" somebody else in the crowd, a young woman, yelled shrilly, anxiety clear in her voice.   
  
Jill shifted her eyes away from the crowd, and Chris caught the look of uncomfort on her face. He walked up to her swiftly, reaching his right hand out and placing it tenderly on her shoulder before giving a small nod. Jill looked up at him for a moment before cracking a small, weak smile and backing up and letting her boyfriend do the talking.  
  
Chris smirked ever so slightly before looking at the civilians of Manitou, but he quickly frowned when he realized what he was about to say. He took in a deep breath, letting it out slowly before he opened his mouth and began to speak about how they discovered what was going on behind everyone's backs...   
  
"We...," he began, shifting his feet a little bit as he did, "were the S.T.A.R.S. members from five years ago. Do any of you recall the news broadcasts about the explosion of the Spencer Estate in upper Michigan?" A few people nodded. "Well...we first found out about the experiments that Umbrella performed way back then... When we tried to expose the truth, Umbrella and our chief made up the excuse that we had been drunk and lit the place on fire... As much as I wish that were true, it wasn't. We were exiled from our jobs, and we were hunted down by the company because we knew too much.   
  
"The problem was, we weren't the only ones who were in danger back then. Umbrella had planned on letting the viruses loose in the city, with the help of some of their friends and one of our enemies." He took in a deep breath. "The city...was turned into something like this place is transforming into. The people, creatures, and everything else was destroyed...turned into monsters. The city became...well...a war-zone."  
  
"Nobody was able to evacuate in time," Brad added, now beginning to walk up to the ex-S.T.A.R.S. marksman and standing beside him, nodding shakily. "Nobody was able to get out of the city in time...not like you will. Only a few people escaped... Nobody was able to get out because nobody believed us... They thought we were basically lunatics who drank too much, but when they realized we were right, it was too late..."  
  
"So for five years," Chris continued, "my group and I have been in Europe, trying to expose the secret and ripping apart some of Umbrella's facilities... A couple of my friends stayed in the U.S. to try and expose information here... For five years, we've been hunted down, for five years, we've been chased and attacked by monsters, and nothing like Raccoon City, the city that had been infected so long ago, has ever happened again, except in two places... And even then, there were few survivors. We came here today to meet up with our friends again...and we didn't expect this. Luckily, we arrived early...we can still get you all out..."  
  
"If what you say is true," somebody shouted from the back of the group of Manitou citizens, "...what will happen to us? Will Umbrella come in to get us? To...kill us?"  
  
A few people began to panick, and Brad now gritted his teeth before shaking his head, clearing his throat to get everybody's attention. "It is possible," he shouted out, and there were a few more screams in the crowd. "However," he spoke again, louder this time, quieting everyone, "we can get you out of this city before it *does* happen. But...was anyone here biten by one of those creatures...?"  
  
A few people raised their hands, while others nodded and called out. Brad's fears were confirmed, and he looked to the rest of his friends for acknowledgement. They all looked at each other for a moment, but then Claire spoke up, knowing very well that if she told them what would happen to those injured, they would freak out, letting all Hell break loose.  
  
"We'll help you all later...with medical attention," she said softly. "But now...we have to get out of here. Will you trust us?"  
  
For a moment, there was silence...a very long one at that. Nothing was said, nobody cried, nobody screamed. There were no sneezes, coughs, or weeps...just silence. A minute had passed, and still, it was quiet enough to hear the drop of a pin or needle on the concrete floor of the building. The atmosphere in the room was becoming more tense and fearsome by the moment, and, if you listened closely enough, you would swear that you could hear the hungry moans of distant zombies, who were slowly hobbling towards the building, about twenty block away and growing closer.  
  
And then...  
  
"I trust you," somebody spoke, so quietly, and yet, everybody could hear him.  
  
"So do I."  
  
"And me."  
  
"For my family...I'll join, too."  
  
The whole group of citizens began to nod now, speaking out in the affirmative, shouting out in glee, realizing that they would be able to live through this very grave situation...considering if they hurried. Small smiles began to creep onto the ex-S.T.A.R.S. members faces, as well as everyone else who was already aquainted with the group. Alice, in the meanwhile, sighed and looked up, her eyes wide. She looked up to see Carlos beside her, and he caught her gaze before smiling softly to her. She returned the gesture with her own smile...but it turned into a frown when he looked away.  
  
She remembered what happened to Rain, what happened to Matt, and Kaplan, and J.D. All of them had been killed at the hand by Umbrella and their monstrous viruses. She had lost everyone she knew, save for the group she had joined shortly after the fact. She knew that there was a high chance of losing them, as well, but she would need to take the risk. Everyone's life was on the line...and she would help save them... This time, things would be different.  
  
Gartha looked up at the ceiling, as well, her thoughts going to the terror she had gone through. She was in the hospital with her friend Jeff only half an hour ago, and he was in critical care because of his serious condition. At one moment, he was coughing up a storm, and then the next minute, he was grabbing at her throat, trying to bite into her... She remembered fleeing...and running into Wesker...the man who said he would help her, but lied when the S.T.A.R.S. members showed up...  
  
And now, Rowan was in danger. So was Sherry, and everyone else... They needed to get out of this city and find those two, as well as save the lives of hundreds of citizens.  
  
Her thoughts were drowned out, however, when the rest of the group began to speak out loudly, agrreing in joining the escapade to get out of the city of the dead. She couldn't hear anything but the commotion, but she did hear, admist the chatting, Barry's voice ring out sharply, calling for everyone to keep quiet for a moment. She looked over to him and saw him smile a little bit before he rubbed his chin, his eyes glinting with a kind of hope.  
  
"If we're gonna get out of this place," he began, his voice rough and kind, "we'd better hurry. The zombies are closing in... When we leave, stay close to the group, don't wander off. We need to find some method of transportation...understand?"  
  
There were nods amongst the crowd, as well as shouts. Grinning softly, Barry, Brad, Carlos, Jill, Alice, Chris, Claire, Rebecca, and Gartha began to gather the people into one group. After a few minutes of preparing, they began to move out of the building, shouts and cries ringing through the air before they were shushed by Jill and Alice. Swiftly and silently, they began to move towards the edge of town, towards the road that connected with Topeka...  
  
But they didn't know that Topeka was already in danger.  
  
**********  
  
Wesker watched them leave with wry amusement.   
  
Everything was going to plan, almost. He was in pursuit of this very large group of survivors and anti-Umbrellas, and Steve, in the meanwhile, was on the hunt for Rowan, Sherry, and the other brats, as well as the rest of the people who inhabitted Birchenville. If everything went correctly, then, when he returned to the Umbrella headquarters, not only would he be congratulated by the boss, he would get a raise in his paycheck... He was already in extremely high rank in the Umbrella company, second only to the boss of the entire place. Besides, he wasn't in this only for the money, he was in it to see that those betrayers to Umbrella would be destroyed, one by one, ripped limb from limb. He would make sure that their body parts would be spread upon the ground and buried seperately from each other...  
  
The whole plan seemed to perfect...except for one glitch.  
  
The hairs on the back of his neck raised as a slight twinge went up his spine. He could feel the pressure in the air around him begin to increase, and he could smell the rain that would soon be falling. He could feel the humidity, and he knew why there was so much. As he looked towards the skyline, towards the direction of Topeka and Birchenville, he could sense the presence of a growing storm. From the way the pressure and dewpoint was, it would be an intense one, perhaps a deadly one. Since this was, in fact, Kansas, perhaps it would be more deadly than a normal thunderstorm...  
  
But he wouldn't let that interfere. He wouldn't fail this mission... Through hail or snow, he would annihilate his enemy...  
  
A smirk began to form on his face as he turned to look down the road, watching the rather large group make their way towards Topeka. Snickering quietly to himself, he began to move after them, keeping out of sight, which wasn't very hard. After all, he was on the roof of a building, and he was hopping from the top of one building to another. Perhaps it was a waste of energy to pursue them like this...he could simply go down and murder them all within ten minutes at the maximum.  
  
But he wanted to see them squirm, to see them suffer. And he wanted to see how far they could get...  
  
This would be a very, very fun hunt...  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Well? How was it? Better?   
  
I tried imporving with the commas...did I do good?  
  
R&R, plz! 


	11. Chapter 10

Resident Evil: End Game  
  
Chapter 10  
  
  
  
The first thoughts that ran through Maria's head as the girl before her spoke of what was to come were ones of confusion and slight humor. Had the girl just said that there were creatures that only feasted on flesh coming to Birchenville? Sure, they could be real creatures, like rabid dogs or something along those lines... But then again, she shouldn't jump to conclusions. Blinking, Maria looked down at the girl and cocked her head a little bit, frowning in curiousity. "Pardon?" she whispered softly.  
  
"I said there are zombies coming to town, miss," the girl said solemnly, narrowing her eyes a little bit and preparing for what would come next. She knew what people would think about her if she began to talk about thing that shouldn't exist...they would think she was crazy, but it was the truth. If they didn't believe her, she would drag them into Topeka and let them see for themselves.  
  
In response to that, Maria blinked, then slowly began to laugh. Her eyes squinted together for a moment, and when she opened them again Rowan could see the humor in her eyes. She had to hold her stomach because she was laughing so hard...laughing almost as much as the cameraman beside her was. The man was clutching the camcorder in his hands, but he had to grip onto it tightly in order to keep ahold of it and not drop it. His shoulders were shaking, and his face was beginning to turn bright red.  
  
*Great...now these people think I'm a friggin' nutcase.*  
  
Maria stopped her laughing and froze for a moment, then looked down at her with concern on her face. She knelt down on one knee and stared into her eyes for a moment before she spoke in a small voice that was still shaking from the chuickles that erupted from her mouth. "Don't you think you're too old to believe in monsters?"  
  
Anger rose inside Rowan, and she recoiled for a moment, shaking it away before staring at the reporter and glaring at her with a rage-filled glance. "If you don't believe me," she snapped suddenly, closing her eyes and growling, "call Topeka, or better yet, Manitou. See if you can even get through to them!"  
  
"There's a psychiatrist right down the street...why don't you let me take you there?"  
  
"Listen, lady, I'm telling you-"  
  
"There are no such things as monsters, kid! Grow up!"  
  
"You think I'm crazy?!"  
  
"Lemme see...YES!"  
  
  
  
"You wanna go see for yourself? Go to Topeka! Or Manitou, for that matter!" Rowan was steaming now, and her cheeks were a bright red. "Look at the damned bus! All those people are from Topeka...they fled!!"  
  
"You're a bus hijacker, too?"  
  
"What?! N-"  
  
Rowan froze suddenly, and her eyes darted to the sky. She had heard buzzing a few moment ago, and figured that a fly had zoomed past her head and circled it for a while, although she didn't see it. However, that buzz, she realized, was faint and distant, as if it were coming from someplace far away...and it was growing louder by the minute...or second. And as the volume of the buzzing grew, a figure began to appear in the sky, enlarging as it came closer to them. Rowan could only make out a long, slender brown body, and she could see huge wings upon its back, beating so fast that they seemed to be almost invisible...  
  
A chill was sent up her spine. If that was a bug, either it could grow really huge...or...  
  
"Shit...," she murmered softly, and she turned to face the reporter, who was now looking up at the figure in the sky, with a look of curiousity upon her face. The cameraman was staring as well, and the people that once lived in Topeka that sat in the bus began to look back frantically, wanting to know what it was that eveyrbody was staring at. Derek blinked at them, then turned to Rowan, shrugging his shoulders and mouthing 'What's going on?' to her, for he couldn't see the giant insect heading towards them at what seemed to be a very fast speed. Rowan knew that staying in one place would be suicide...they had to get out of there. Perhaps this creature was infected with one of Umbrella's viruses, and maybe it wasn't, but she wouldn't take the chance. Taking a deep breath, she turned to face the reporter and the cameraman, clearing her throat a little bit to gain their attention.   
  
"Do you believe me now?" she hissed coldly, but a shocked look appeared on her face when the two people appeared to be uninterested in what she was saying.  
  
"What, that?" the cameraman asked, pointing one finger up in the air and directing it to the bug that was heading towards them. "It's what we call an insect, lady. There's no monsters around here...stop watching those late shows, alright?"  
  
The figure in the sky grew larger as the distance between them and it decreased. Rowan cast a glance up at it, staring at it for a moment with a look of uncertainty upon her face before she looked back to the two people, shaking her head and speaking again. "Do you really wanna take the chance?" she shot at them again, fear radiating from her in high doses as the creature came closer. If the two people didn't trust her now, she would have to get back on the bus and flee into Birchenville, as well as look for a radio station of some sort. Birchenville was a rather large city, dwarfed only by Topeka, and it had a few television stations, as well as radio ones.  
  
"Look, kid," Maria cut in again, her eyes narrowing with every single word she said. "There's no such things as monsters."  
  
And that was when the creature, its speed increasing with each beat of its wings, began to arch its back and fly diagonally, its snout, which they could now see was long and very thin, as well as extremely sharp, pointed at them. The wings were now a blur because of the fast beating, and for a moment the creature seemed to be only a streak in the sky. It was at that same moment that the boss of the electric company began to stir from his unconcious state. The man began to sit upright and rubbed his head slightly, taking in a deep breath and looking down, a blush forming on his chunky little cheeks as he realized he had soiled himself from the fear of getting run over by the bus that now sat less than an inch before him. He looked up again, and slowly began to stand up, rubbing his bald head as if to stroke his hair, and he began to waddle towards the reporter, the cameraman, and the young girl. His small potbelly jiggled a little as he walked, and his pale white shirt and denim jeans stuck to his body as he walked towards them, the heat and humidity that lingered in the air apparantly getting to him. He was, however, unaware of the danger he was about to face, and he was also unaware of a huge bug flying directly towards them...or, more precisdely, towards *him*.  
  
He was down on the ground before he could even blink.  
  
In the minute it had taken the boss to recuperate, the giant bug had grown closer to them, and when the man began to walk, it was less than five feet away. Now, it was on top of him, holding down the screaming victim with its two pairs of long, thin, black, and hairy legs, while it used its last two similar legs to support its backside. With a low, rumbling hiss, the creature rose its head into the sky, letting the tip of its needle-nose glisten temporarily in the sun before it brought it down and plunged it into the man's belly. The man's screams intensified, and that caused the beast to tensen a little and apply more pressure to the needle that was its snout, as well as hold him down more because the man was trying to pull away. For a moment, a low, sickening sucking sound filled the air, and the man's body began to grow paler as his life force was drained from him.   
  
Maria's face screwed up, and she began to scream shrilly, causing the giant bug to recoil a little, although it never stopped draining the still-moving man, and causing Rowan to wince from the sound. The cameraman almost dropped the television camera he was holding, although he looked like he was about to drop, and Maria's screams were joined by the frantic shouts of the people who were on the bus. Their faces were pale and frightened, while some of them looked on in silent horror, not opening their mouths but glaring with fear attatched to their faces. Derek also stared, his mouth agape in a low gasp. Rowan, in the meanwhile, smiled a little bit to herself.  
  
*I'm not crazy...they see that now. Perhaps, we can get things moving a little faster, starting by ging to a broadcast station of some sort.*  
  
She turned for a moment to look back at Maria and the cameraman, and was reminded of her past when she saw the horror clear on their faces. They looked like her when she watched her school be infested with the undead....they looked like her when she saw her friends killed before her eyes...  
  
"What the *fuck* is going on here?!" the cameraman, Jack, shouted out in fright. His eyes were as wide as saucers now, and his grip on the camera was growing slippery with the perspiration that began to form on his hands. He shifted the camera in his hands to get a better grip on it, then looked to Rowan with beared teeth that were gritted in frustration. "Want answers, kid... What the *FUCK* is that thing?!"  
  
"I warned you," Rowan snapped, shaking her head. She looked up at Jack for a moment, then to Maria. She sighed, then began to back up towards the bus, motioning for them to follow and wincing at the shrill sounds of everyone's screams. She could hear Sherry and Celica beginning to shout for everyone to calm down and be quiet, although only a few did so. "Get in...We've gotta get to a broadcast station, and you're gonna lead us to it."  
  
They did what they were told without any hesitation, and began to head towards the bus, squeezing in and trying to fit inwith the rest of the group that was on the bus. The camera was barely able to squeeze thorugh the doors, but osmehow they were able to pull it in. Rowan smiled a little, and turned to face the monster, who now stood over the limp body of the electric company's boss.   
  
The man was completely drained of any internal fluids in only a matter of minutes. His skin, once rosy and fattening, was now dry and wrinkled, and well as white as a sheet. His eyes which had been brimmed with fear only a little while ago had already begun to sink into his head, and his fingers began to twitch a little.   
  
*He used to live a normal life, I bet,* Rowan thought slowly to herself. *He probably had a wife and a couple of kids...Good job, too. And now he's reduced to a shadow of his former self.*  
  
Other than the saddened thoughts that had begun to scribble across Rowan's mind, she was not worried about this man. He was changing already, but even though he would become a zombie, he would be powerless. Rowan knew that this man would probably not be able to get up to hunt for food...he would most likely crawl, although barely, for without any blood, any body movement was almost impossible. Even now, his mouth began to open and close in silent moans, and his sinking eyes began to roll a little in his head. His feet twitched with powerlessly, and a thick stench of decay began to rise from his body. No, she wasn't worried about him coming to eat her.  
  
She was worried about the giant bug that was standing before her, its legs outstretched, its wings beginning to flap quickly.  
  
It was once a mosquito, Rowan realized as she studied the features of the body. Its body was long and thin, and was a deep tan color. The abdomen however was no longer thin...it was bright red, storing the six pints of blood it had just drained from the man that lay limply behind it. Its wings were thick and strongly built, and the veins that went through them was pumping an ominous green liquid into them... The green liquid was its blood, although it shared the same color as the T-Virus. There were three long, hairy, and black legs on either side of its body, and they arched backwards a little as the segmented portions of the feet grew closer to the end. The many-faceted eyes of this creature were an obsidian black in color, yet dull and lifeless. The snout, or the needle, was now tipped with blood, and Rowan suddenly blinked when she heard the light gnashing of teeth. The mosquito rose its head a bit to get a better look at her, and she could make out the tiny mouth that was embedded where the head and the needle met. This mouth was filled with two circular rows of tiny little fangs, and two large, muscular mandibles emerged from the mouth, twitching a little as if to beckon her to come closer. She stared at the mouth for a moment,then looked up to watch as the mosquito began to lurch forward and towards her.  
  
Screams began to sound from the bus, but Rowan ignored them. She gritted her teeth a little in agitation, and began to reach for her jeans pocket, searching for the Colt Python she had stuffed in there during the bus ride from Topeka to Birchenville. When she clasped onto the handle and pulled it out, the metal glistened in the sunlight.  
  
It caught the eyes of the mosquito, and Rowan could swear that she saw anticipation written in those eyes. Confusion dawned in her mind, but it lasted for only a second. The beast lunged for her rather quickly, its legs reaching out to grab her, its needle-nose rising into the air and posing to strike. It was only when the creature pounced on her and pushed her to the ground that she remembered that mosquitos were attracted to light, just as moths were.   
  
More screams were emitted into the air, and Rowan began to fumble with the gun in her hands. Wincing a little and watching as the mosquito lowered its needle to her neck, she began to raise the barrel of the gun. When the tip of the needle was about an inch away from her skin, the barrel of the gun was placed onto the giant bug's chest.  
  
With a loud *bang*, blobs of green began to fly into the air, then fall and hit the street. The mosquito gave a low hiss as this happened and suddenly began to pull backwards, the teeth in its small mouth gnashing with both rage and hunger. With a low growl, it quickly lowered its mouth towards Rowan's neck.   
  
There was another gunshot, and red blood began to pool on the ground. Rowan became still for a moment, as did the mosquito...and suddenly, everyone on the bus began to fear that she had shot herself, that she was dead...  
  
That fear died away when Rowan lifted one leg to kick the body of the shocked mosquito off of her body. The lower abdomen of the mosquito was blown apart, and tattered pieces of the membrane dangled from it as it they were torn pieces of clothing. Rowan groaned and quickly began to stand up, just in time to watch as the bug began to twitch and stand upright, using its front two legs to support the body, but the girl was faster. With one sharp kick, the bug was back on the ground, and Rowan moved her foot onto the beast's segmented neck. While the mosquito began to squeal with dislike, the girl rose the gun into the air, then aimed it.  
  
Then fired.  
  
The mosquito became limp, and the area were the head once was began to drip with neon green goo. Flesh of the beast was scattered around the area...and the legs of the giant insect began to twitch. The wings vibrated and began to flap, but it didn't lift off of the ground.  
  
Rowan gritted her teeth at the sight, holding back the bile that began to rise in her throat and turning to face the bus. She looked up and began to grin widely when she saw Sherry cheering her on, and saw Celica, Derek, Greg, and Shiva beginning to join her. A sigh escaped the girl's throat as she approached the bus, stumbling through the doorway clumsily and climbing the stairs before taking a left turn, and promptly collpasing in an empty seat. Derek looked back with a wide grin on his face before turning back to the steering wheel and reaching for the key still shoved in the ignition, turning it and letting the engine run for a few seconds before his feet hit the gas, letting the bus lurch forward. Rowan smiled to herself a little, not from happiness, as she really wasn't happy. She was smiling because she and a couple of her friends wouldn't be the only survivors.  
  
No. After they got the broadcasting station and warned everyone, after Rowan would call her cellphone number in hopes of getting ahold of her friends and aunt, after Derek, Celica, and Greg would try to contact their family, more p[eople would be survivors. And more people would know about Umbrella. This time, there would be many witnesses to the incidents, and no more people would think they were drunk and had hallucinations, or that there was a deadly gang. This time, the survivors would all say the same thing...that Umbrella was the cause for every thing, every *damn* thing.  
  
Finally, after so many years of fighting the evil corporation, after so many days of falling apart and crying over what the company did to everyone, Umbrella would be going down for good.  
  
And even as these thoughts began to form in Rowan's mind, even as the group of people who once lived in Topeka began to relax a little, nobody noticed the shadow of a single man who began to treck after them. 


	12. Chapter 11

Resident Evil: End Game  
  
Chapter 11  
  
  
  
The group of civilians were just about to near the point of breaking down and screaming for help, hoping that somebody out there was still alive and could get them out of the mess they were in without any hassles. they were frightened, there was no doubt about that, and they were clenching onto everybody else like they were their life-lines, that if they let go, they would fall prey to the undead monsters that roamed the streets that now lay in ruin, the streets that once thrived with life in a small community known as Manitou.  
  
The roads that had once been lively had turned into deathtraps during the short period of time that the monsters began to take over. There were only afew people alive, and those few people were usually caught by the zombie's hands before they could get to the group that was swiftly and quietly moving through the deserted and quiet city of the dead. The streets were now littered with puddles of drying blood, with decaying body parts, and a few papers and other items that had been left in the middle of the road without a care. Also on the roads were walking figures, bodies with no souls and no minds, but with a stomach that was seemingly never filled. No matter how many people they tore apart or devoured, the zombies and the other mutations that roamed the streets never seemed to stop quenching their everlasting hunger. It was almost as if they were cursed to eat forever, cursed to hunt.  
  
And these monsters always seemed to know exactly where these people were going, or where they were. They had the tendency to arrive right on time, in a sense, always popping up when people never expected it, always moving closer to try and take a bite out of the people who would back up and scream, their joints locking up and refusing to move. Every time that would happen, one of the other members of the group would come to the rescue, raising a firearm in the air and shooting at the beasts or simply kicking them, punching them, stabbing them, or doing anything else they could to them with whatever item they had. One woman, in fact, had swiped the head off of an extremely decayed fellow with her purse.  
  
That woman was now up in the front of the group, her eyes wide and sinking, her teeth chattering like she was freezing, her hands clenching and unclenching, and her body shaking as if she was in an earthquake. This woman, an old woman of 67, looked like she would be traumatized for life, and it was a miracle she didn't have a heart attack at the moment.  
  
The hour that took place as the group made their way through the city, led by the ex-S.T.A.R.S. members, was the most dangerous. The zombies had closed in while they were preparing to leave that building, and when they did move, the army of undead emerged from the nooks and crannies of the buildings, alleyways, and some even walked out of the windows of the buildings just to get to them. It was during that time that the first casualties came...an elderly man in the back of the group was grabbed by the shoulders and hoisted onto the ground by a bony skeleton of a zombie before torn apart, piece by piece. Another man, in the middle of the group, was shoved into three undead humans because the rest of the civilians had shoved at each other to try and get away from the rest of the zombies. That act of carelessness had cost the man his life.  
  
And then there was the young girl, a child no older than seven. She too had been pushed out of the group because of their rush to get away, but her fate was much more terrible... The child had been shoved into the face of a waiting Cerberus, and as her mother tried to run forward and grab her, only to be pushed ahead by the running citizens, the girl turned around to face the dog. The last sight she ever saw was the creature getting on its haunches, bearing its blood-stained teeth before shoving itself forward with a loud bark, biting into her neck...  
  
Only a short while after, the mother was able to escape the grasp of the people and rushed forward to where her daughter was, only to see her body being chewed on by the rotting canine. Her scream had rebounded through the area, and the zombies suddenly turned to face her, attracted by the scream, before wandering forward with low, venemous groans. The mother, unable to live with herself and losing the only remaining portion of her family, as she was not married and had no other children, threw herself to them, allowing them to feast upon her.  
  
Luckily, the rest of the group had gotten away, but only for a short period of time, for about five minutes after they scrambled away from the first horde of zombies, another horde awaited them. The lucky thing about that was that they were facing the front of the group, and most of the people in the front of the group were ex-S.T.A.R.S. members who din't want to be tampered with at the moment. They also had guns, all loaded, and unloaded the bullets into the beasts. After that group of zombies was dispatched, Brad, Claire, Rachel, and Carlos all made their way to the back of the group to defend the rest of the people from oncoming mutations.  
  
They had been walking for what seemed like an hour, as I said, and they were almost out of the town of Manitou. Before them they could see the short, winding road leading to Topeka, and they could see the hge skyscrapers towering above the streets far ahead, and they could see the rising plumes of smoke floating in the air, both from the factories there and from something else. They could smell things burning, although they didn't know what it was.   
  
Whatever it was that was burning was added to the fact that there seemed to be no sound coming from the place, and that only increased the rising fear in their stomaches that they were already too late.  
  
Brad and Rachel cast wary glances to each other as they looked behind them at the city where they once lived. Once again, a home had been destroyed, lives had been taken, and once again, zombies and monsters claimed the streets as their own. The nightmare that they had hoped would not come back to them had arrived, and now, it seemed that it was Raccoon City all over again.  
  
As the two looked back behind them to the city of Manitou,something caught their eyes, something that didn't look like a zombie or a mutation. No, in fact, this thing looked human, and from the way it stared after them angrily, although they couldn't see its face very well because they were moving farther away from the figure. However, they had a good idea, because they suddenly knew who was watching them leave. They could tell by the way the slowly setting sun glinted off of his sunglass-covered eyes.  
  
Brad looked panicked for a moment. Opening his mouth and silently saying the name of the figure, he turned around to face the others in the group, but knew that yelling out to the people in the front row would cause panick. Instead, he turned to Claire and Carlos, shaking his head before saying in a low tone, "Wesker's watching."  
  
When the two blinked and looked up to the area where Rachel was still staring at, they caught a glimpse of the man before he turned an suddenly bolted down what seemed like a flight of stairs, although they couldn't see that either, because he was on the roof of a building at the edge of Manitou. Quickly, his figure disappeared.  
  
They cast weary looks at each other, knowing now that they were being spied on, before turning to look in the direction they were going, towards Topeka. All around them, the undead began to approach, although slowly and sluggishly, for they were scattered along the road to the huge city, and some had even gone into the woods nearby it. The pitiful wails from these creatures began to scare the people in the group, and a few of them began to whimper while others started to scream in the sheer terror of seing these beasts, but they were quieted down by Jill and Chris, who turned to face them from the front row and placed their fingers in front of their mouths. The message was silent, but it got through to them, and the rest of the people in the group, those who were not freaking out, turned to face the others and delivered the same message, telling them that if they should make any more noise than they already were, more of them would come, and they would get nowhere by that happening.  
  
It was only when they were about five minutes away from te capital of Kansas that Cole Taylor saw it.  
  
The creature was huge, about six feet tall, and perhaps about seven feet long. Its body was covered in fur, which was mostly matted with dry blood, while other parts of its body seemed to be stripped of skin, as if somebody had walked up to it and peeled it all off. One could see the internal organs easily, and they could also see that they were protected with thick bones, including ribs that seemed to be as thick as a baseball bat. The paws of the beast were about the size of two footballs, all tipped with five long, sharpened black claws, and its head was large and round, with a medium-sized snout and two pearly white eyes facing them. Under that snout, in the creature's mouth, were rows and rows of blood-stained fangs, each about and inch long, and the small, rounded ears of the beast had been ripped off. The creature, from what they saw, was once a Black Bear because of the shape of the figure and the color of the fur, or at least the color that they could see was not covered in blood...but it was huge, almost as if it had been mutated, and the creature looked like something had gnawed away at it.  
  
Growliong loudly, the creature reared up on its two thick hind legs and rose its snout towards the sky, opening its mouth and letting out a terrible roar that seemed to rattle the ground before it landed on all fours, got on its haunches, and charged at them all with full speed.  
  
The screams that emitted from the group was almost so loud that it nearly deafened everybody there. All Hell broke loose suddenly, and people were now beginning to scramble towards Topeka, but if they got there, they would surely never make it, for now people were beginning to walk out of the city and towards them, staggering drunkenly and holding their arms out before them. Topeka had already been under attack, and Jill, Chris, Barry, and the others decided that they wouldn't risk anyone else getting killed, so instead of allowing them to run, they stood before them, rose their guns into the air, and pointed them at them, causing them to freeze in their spots. Their eyes glanced over to the deformed Black Bear, then back again, knowing that they couldn't waste much time as the beast came closer.  
  
"Knock it off, all of you!" Jill screamed out, shaking her head. "GO there unarmed and you'll get yourselves killed! Now stay back, we'll take care of this!"  
  
The people took a few steps back at this, then gulped as they watched Jill nod to the rest of her partners and turned to face the Black Bear, aimed their guns at it, then fired a good twenty or so shots into it. The beast staggered as the bullets struck its blood-soaked fur and buried themselves deep into its flesh, but kept attacking, for all of the bullets seemed to be hitting the thick bone and not the flesh. Even the skull was as hard as a bowling ball, it seemed. If drew foreward again, letting loose another roar before chargin again, gaining about ten feet before it was pushed back again by the force of bullets.  
  
It advanced again, this time gaining about fifteen feet and stood before the group of people, who, both in their shock and fear of being killed, jumped back as the bear took a swipe. This time, Cole joined in the action as he rose his gun into the air and fired at the beastly thing, and suddenly it turned to face him, snarling in a feral manner before leaping towards and pushing him to the ground, holding him down with both its weight and the force. The bear rose its clawed paw into the air and prepared to strike, but was knocked off by a sudden spray of bullets that were fired by someone behind him. The bear growled angrily before lurching backwards, shaking its head as if to get an annoying fly off before it rose its disgusting head to face the attacker and growl. Cole blinked, then looked up quickly to see Leon standing behind him, his Magnum pointed at the bear as he cast a glance down at the boy. With a nod, he leaned down and pulled the child up, pulling him away from the beast before it jumped towards them again.  
  
The bear snarled in dismay as he saw the boy get pulled away, but its eyes fell on something else, something that seemed even more delicious. There was a woman struggling to get back into the crowd, her whimpers frantic as she shoved towards the people, although somewhat sluggish. Before her, a man began to try and pull her into the group, growing more panicked as he saw the bear staring the woman down and beginning to head over. The woman, the bear noticed as he took another step forward, was pleasantly plump around the abdomen, and suddenly the creature realized that the scent of blood radiating frokm this human signaled that there was another person inside this woman...she was pregnant.  
  
Driven by the need to feed, the bear lept forward, its claws out, its jaws open, prepared to tear apart this woman to feed on both her and the baby inside of her, and she screamed shrilly before her husband gave her a mighty tug in an attempt to pull her into the group, only to find that she seemed to be rooted to the ground from fright.  
  
This time, Alice stepped in. She jammed the gun in her hand inside the lining of her black jeans and ran forward as quickly as her body would allow. With a loud yell, she jumped forward and towards the bear, placing her feet in front of her so that she wound up giving the creature a flying kick into the side of its body. Hissing in total rage, the bear was thrown to the side and fell to the ground before it began to stand straight up and head towards her. Alice frowned a bit at the creature before reaching for her gun, and when she gained grip on it, she realized one thing. Smirking, she rose her Caliber handgun and aimed it at the beast before her, and fired when it was less than an inch away from her face.  
  
The creature froze before her, its mouth open in a silent roar and its legs seemingly frozen in the run it was in. It had stopped moving altogether, and not even the eye that remained wavered as it fell to the ground limply, almost as still as a statue. Its left eye was now only a black hole, and thick, dead blood coated the area where the eye had once been. Another substance flowed from the wound, a thick liquid that seemed to be filled with chunks of matter that Alice didn't want to identify.  
  
The pregnant woman paused and gazed at Alice for a long moment, silent thanks flying from her face before she turned to face the man that was still gripping tightly onto her arm, smiling weakly. The man grinned and pulled her into a hug, letting out a small sob before laughing a little.  
  
They saved the life of a family that seemed to be just beginning, and even though they wanted to rejoice for that, to cheer a little, they knew there was no time. The ex-S.T.A.R.S. members turned away silently and began to make their way towards the seemingly dead city of Topeka, already knowing what would be in store for them, and hoping that a certain few people were still alright.  
  
And behind them, two eyes gazed angrily from the shadow of a tree. Its eyes glimmered and then flickered to look at the other undeadmonsters that slowly crept towards the group of civilians, and the man grinned a little at that. The monsters wouldn't go after him, not anymore at least. He was still human, that part was true, but he was also one of them. When the monsters looked at him, they saw another one of them, another zombie, another mutation, and that gave the man free roam of the city without having to worry about being bitten, although a few who seemed to be extremely hungry would still go after him.  
  
But that didn't matter to him. What mattered to him now was that a group of people were about to fall into his trap, and as Wesker moved swiftly from the shadow of the tree to another, slowly and quietly following them, he wondered if Steve already exterminated the children or not. With a frown, the man shook his head. *If he doesn't,* he hissed in his mind, *I'll take care fo them myself...and then get rid of the boy.*  
  
And with that, he disappeared amongst the shadows.  
  
*~*~*~*~  
  
If nobody reviews, I'm gonna put this story on hold, cuz I wanna get another one done, then work on one that I'm already planning. So review if you wanna see me continue this fic, okay? (I'll continue it anyway, even if nobody does review) 


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